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THE  AMERICAN  NATION 
A   HISTORY 

FROM  ORIGINAL  SOURCES   BY  ASSOCIATED  SCHOLARS 

EDITED  BY 

ALBERT  BUSHNELL  HART,  LL.D. 

PROFESSOR   OF   HISTORY  IN   HARVARD   UNIVBRSITY 

ADVISED  BY 
VARIOUS  HISTORICAL  SOCIETIES 


THE  AMERICAN  NATION 

A   HISTORY 


LIST   OP  AUTHORS  AND  TITLES 

Group  I 

Foundations  of  the  Nation 

Vol.  I  European  Background  of  American 
History,  b\'  Edward  Potts  Cheyney, 
A.M.,  Prof.  European  Hist.,  Univ.  of 
Pa. 

"  2  Basis  of  American  History,  by  Liv- 
ingston Farrand,  LL.D.,  President 
Univ.  of  Colo. 

"  3  Spain  in  America,  by  the  late  Ed- 
ward Gaylord  Bourne,  Ph.D.,  for- 
merly Prof.  Hist.,  Yale  Univ. 

"  4  England  in  America,  by  Lyon  Gar- 
diner Tyler,  LL.D.,  President  Will- 
iam and  Mary  College. 

"  5  Colonial  Self  -  Government,  by 
Charles  McLean  Andrews,  Ph.D., 
Prof.  Am.  History,  Yale  University. 

Group  II 

Transformation  into  a  Nation 

Vol.  6  Provincial  America,  by  Evarts  Bou- 
tell  Greene,  Ph.D.,  Prof.  Hist,  and 
Dean  of  College,  Univ.  of  111. 
"  7  France  in  America,  by  the  late 
Reuben  Gold  Thwaites,  LL.D.,  for- 
merly Sec.  Wisconsin  State  Hist.  Soc. 


Vol.  S  Preliminaries  of  the  Revolution, 
by  George  Elliott  Howard,  Ph.D., 
Prof.  Polit.  Science  Univ.  of  Neb. 

"  9  The  American  Revolution,  by 
Claude  Halstead  Van  Tyne,  Ph.D., 
Head  Prof.  Hist.  Univ.  of  Michigan. 

"  ID  The  Confederation  and  the  Consti- 
tution, oy  Andrew  Cunningham 
McLaughlin,  A.M.,  Head  Prof. 
Hist.,  Univ.  of  Chicago. 

Group  III 

Development  of  the  Nation 

V  )1  II  The  Federalist  System,  by  John 
Spencer  Bassett,  Ph.D.,  Prof.  Am. 
Hist.,  Smith  College. 

"  12  The  Jeffersonian  System,  by  Ed- 
ward Channing,  Ph.D.,  Prof.  An- 
cient and  Alodem  Hist.,  Harvard 
Univ. 

"  13  Rise  of  American  Nationality,  by 
Kendric  Charles  Babcock,  Ph.D., 
Dean  Col.  Arts  and  Sciences,  Univ. 
of  Illinois. 

"  14  Rise  of  the  New  West,  by  Frederick 
Jackson  Turner,  Ph.D.,  Prof.  Hist., 
Harvard  University. 

"  15  Jacksonian  Democracy,  by  William 
MacDonald,  LL.D.,  Prof.  Govern- 
ment, Univ.  of  California. 

Group  IV 

Trial  of  Nationality 

Vol.  16  Slavery  and  Abolition,  by  Albert 
Bushnell  Hart,  LL.D.,  Prof.  Gov- 
ernment, Harvard  Univ. 


Vol.  17  Westward  Extension,  by  the  late 
George  Pierce  Garrison,  Ph.D.,  for- 
merly Prof.  Hist.,  Univ.  of  Texas. 

"  18  Parties  and  Slavery,  by  Theodore 
Clarke  Smith,  Ph.D.,  Prof.  Am. 
Hist.,  Williams  College. 

"  19  Causes  of  the  Civil  War,  by  Rear- 
Admiral  French  Ensor  Chadwick, 
U.S.N.,  retired  former  Pres.  of 
Naval  War  College. 

"  20  The  Appeal  to  Arms,  by  James 
Kendall  Hosmer,  LL.D.,  formerly 
Librarian  Minneapolis  Pub.  Lib. 

"  21  Outcome  of  the  Civil  War,  by 
James  Kendall  Hosmer,  LL.D. 

Group  V 

National  Expansion 

Vol.  22  Reconstruction,  Political  and  Eco- 
nomic, by  William  Archibald  Dun- 
ning, Ph.D.,  Prof.  Hist,  and  Politi- 
cal Philosophy,  Columbia  Univ. 

23  National  Development,  by  Edwin 
Erie  Sparks,  Ph.D.,  Pres.  Pa.  State 
College. 

24  National  Problems,  by  Davis  R. 
Dewey,  Ph.D.,  Professor  of  Eco- 
nomics, Mass.  Inst,  of  Technology. 

25  America  as  a  World  Power,  by  John 
H.  Latane,  Ph.D.,  Prof.  Am.  Hist., 
John  Hopkins  University. 

26  National  Ideals  Historically  Traced, 
byAlbertBushnellHart,LL.D.,Prof. 
Government,   Harvard   University. 

27  National  Progress  —  1907-1917,  bv 
Frederic  Austin  Ogg,  Ph.D.,  Prof. 
PoHtical  Science,  Univ.  of  Wisconsin. 

28  Index  to  the  Series,  by  David  May- 
dole  Matteson,  A.M.,  Harvard 
College  Library. 


COMMITTEES  APPOINTED  TO  ADVISE  AND 
CONSULT  WITH  THE  EDITOR 


The  Massachusetts  Historical  Society 

Charles  Francis  Adams,  LL.D.,  President 
Samuel  A.  Green,  M.U.,  Vice-President 
James  Ford  Rhodes,  LL.D.,  2d  Vice-Preside 
Edward  Channing,  Ph.D.,  Prof.  History  Harvard 

Univ. 
Worthington  C.  Ford,  Chief  of  Division  of  MSS. 

Library  of  Congress 

The  Wisconsin  Historical  Society 

Reuben  G.  Thwaites,  LL.D.,  Secretary  and  Super- 
intendent 

Frederick  J.  Turner,  Ph.D.,  Prof,  of  American  His- 
tory Wisconsin  University 

James  D.  Butler,  LL.D.,  formerly  Prof.  Wisconsin 
University 

William  W.  Wight,  President 

Henry  E.  Legler,  Curator 

The  Virginia  Historical  Society 

William  Gordon  McCabe,  Litt.D.,  President 

Lyon  G.  Tyler,  LL.D.,  Pres.  of  William  and  Mary 

College 
Judge  David  C.  Richardson 
J.  A.  C.  Chandler,  Professor  Richmond  College 
Edward  Wilson  James 

The  Texas  Historical  Society 

Judge  John  Henninger  Reagan,  President 
Geort^e  P.  Gamson,  Ph.D.,  Prof,  of  History  Uni- 
versity 01  'lexas 
Judge  C.  W.  Raines 
Judge  Zachary  T.  FuUmore 


WILLIAM    PITT 


THE  AMERICAN  NATION:     A  HISTORY 

VOLUME   7 

France  in  America 

1497-1763 


BY 

REUBEN  GOLD  THWAITES,  LL.D. 

SBCRBTART   OF   THE   STATE   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY   OF   WISCONSIN 


WITH  MAPS 


NEW  YORK  AND  LONDON 
HARPER     &     BROTHERS     PUBLISHERS 


/    I,    "     L' 


7'> 


Copyright,  1905,  by  Hari-bk  &  Brothbbs 

PRINTED     IN     THE     UNITED     STATES    OF     AMERICA 

M-E 


TO 

MY  WTFE 


CONTENTS 

CHAP.  PAGB 

Editor's  Introduction xv 

Author's  Preface xix 

I.  The  Planting  of  New  France  (1497-1632)  .  3 

II.  The  Acadian  Frontier  (1632-1728) .     ...  23 

III.  The  St.  LAWRENCii  Valley  (1632-1713)     .     .  34 

IV.  Discovery  of  the  Mississippi  (1634-1687)     ,  49 

V.  Louisiana  and  the  Illinois  (1697-1731)  .     .  72 

VI.  Rivalry  with  England  (1715-1745)      ...  89 

VII.  King  George's  War  (1743-1748) 105 

VIII.  The  People  of  New  France  (1750)      .     .     .  124 

IX.  Basis  of  the  Final  Struggle  (i 748-1 752)     .  143 

X.  Outbreak  of  War  (1752-1754) 157 

XI.  A  Year  of  Disaster  (1755) 173 

XII.  Guarding    the    Western    Frontier    (1755- 

1756) 189 

XIII.  A  Year  of  Humiliation  (1757) 204 

XIV.  The   Turning   of  the   Scale    (1758)     .     .     .  215 

XV.  The  Fall  of  Quebec  (1759) 239 

XVI.  Conquest  Approaching  (i 759-1760) .     .     .     .  255 

xiii 


xiv  CONTENTS 

CBAP  'AGE 

XVII.  The  Treaty  of  Paris  (1760-1763)  ....  266 

XVIII.  Louisiana  under  Spain  (1762-1803)    .     .     .  281 

XIX.  Critical  Essay  on  Authorities      ....  296 


MAPS 

Maine  and  Acadia  (1603-1763) facing  24 

Progress  of  French  Discovery  in  the  In- 
terior (1600-1762)  (in  colors)     ....  "  36 

The  Far  West  (1686-1754) "  74 

Eastern  North  America  (1740)  (in  colors)    .  "  106 
Champlain   and  Mohawk   Frontiers   (1609- 

1763) "  204 

The  Western  Frontier  (1763; "  256 

North  America,  as  Adjusted  by  the  Peace 

of  1763  (in  colors) "  268 


EDITOR'S   INTRODUCTION 

IN  laying  out  a  series  like  The  American  Nation, 
one  of  the  fundamental  difficulties  is  to  bring 
into  its  proper  relations  the  French  colonies  and 
their  influence  on  the  British  settlements.  Be- 
ginning simultaneously  with  the  earliest  English 
colonization,  the  French  colonies,  except  in  Maine 
and  Acadia,  were  during  their  whole  history  sepa- 
rated from  the  English  by  immense  expanses  of 
trackless  forest.  Hence  it  is  not  until  well  into  the 
eighteenth  century  that  the  two  parallel  threads  of 
neighborhood  colonization  are  really  intertwisted. 

It  has  seemed  wise,  therefore,  to  treat  French 
colonization  as  a  continuous  episode,  especially 
because  so  far  in  this  series  there  has  been  no  ac- 
count of  the  French  colonies,  except  the  chapter 
on  commercial  companies  in  Cheyney's  European 
Background  (vol.  I.  of  The  American  Nation),  the 
chapter  on  the  Florida  settlements  in  Bourne's 
Spain  in  America  (vol.  III.),  a  brief  chapter  on 
Colonial  Neighbors  in  Tyler's  England  in  America 
(vol.  IV.),  and  the  chapters  on  the  English  and 
colonial  side  of  the  border  wars  from  1689  to 
1 7 13    in    Greene's   Provincial   America    (vol.    VI.), 

VOL      VII. 2  XV 


xvi  EDITOR'S    INTRODUCTION 

Dr.  Thwaites  has  therefore  a  free  field  to  carry  the 
whole  subject  through,  from  the  beginning  of  Gallic 
settlement  to  the  expulsion  of  the  French  from 
North  America  in  1763. 

After  a  brief  account  of  the  planting  of  New- 
France  (chap,  i.),  the  author  devotes  three  chap- 
ters to  the  three  fields  of  French  adventure  and 
settlement — Acadia,  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  the  Mis- 
sissippi; besides  a  separate  chapter  (iv.)  on  the  fas- 
cinating subject  of  the  discovery  of  the  Mississippi, 

Having  thus  shown  how  the  colonies  came  to  be, 
he  devotes  chapters  vi.  and  vii.  to  the  wars  by 
land  and  sea  in  America  between  17 13  and  1748; 
then,  after  an  interesting  chapter  (viii.)  on  the 
people  of  New  France,  about  half  the  book  (chaps, 
ix.  to  xvii.)  is  devoted  to  the  French  and  Indian 
War  and  its  territorial  results ;  then  follows  a  review, 
which  will  be  found  novel  and  serviceable,  of  the 
conditions  of  Spanish  Louisiana  from  1762  down  to 
the  cession  to  the  United  States  in  1803. 

The  literature  of  this  subject  is  widely  scattered 
and  in  several  languages,  and  the  student  will 
find  convenient  the  summary  in  the  Critical  Essay 
on  Authorities :  it  deals  rather  with  the  fundamental 
works  and  collections  than  with  special  material 
on  small  points. 

Although  the  first  part  of  the  book  is  chrono- 
logically parallel  with  several  others  of  the  series, 
and  especially  with  Greene's  Provincial  America,  it 
does  not  repeat,  but  gives   between   two  covers  a 


EDITOR'S   INTRODUCTION  xvii 

succinct  account  of  the  origin,  progress,  and  over- 
throw of  the  French  empire  in  America.  The 
western  explorations,  posts,  and  settlements  of  the 
French  have  especially  interested  the  author,  and 
are  illustrated  by  original  maps  which  almost  for 
the  first  time  reveal  the  immense  possibilities  which 
the  French  had  before  them. 


AUTHOR'S    PREFACE 

THE  story  of  the  rise  and  fall  of  New  France 
is  the  most  dramatic  chapter  in  American  his- 
tory. It  has  been  so  admirably  related  by  Francis 
Parkman  that  to  follow  in  his  footsteps  may  seem 
a  daring  venture.  But  the  work  of  Parkman  runs 
through  twelve  octavo  volumes,  and  in  this  busy 
world  comparatively  few  are  willing  to  undertake 
the  task  of  reading  them  all,  despite  the  fact  that 
France  and  England  in  North  America  is  qmte  as 
entertaining  as  the  best  of  fiction,  and  possesses  the 
additional  charm  of  verity.  There  would  seem  to 
be  needed  a  one-volume  history  of  New  France, 
from  the  stand-point  of  relationship  with  her  Eng- 
lish neighbors  to  the  south.  Indeed,  so  intimate 
were  these  relations,  and  so  far-reaching  their  con- 
sequences, that  no  history  of  the  American  nation 
can  be  considered  complete  that  does  not,  as  fully 
as  space  will  permit,  outline  the  remarkable  career 
of  Canada  under  the  French  regime. 

One  cannot  treat  of  this  subject  without  con- 
stantly acknowledging  indebtedness  to  Parkman, 
and  rising  from  the  task  with  a  keen  apprecia- 
tion of   the  many-sidedness  of  that  great  master, 

xix 


XX  AUTHOR'S    PREFACE 

Yet  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  word  of  no 
historian  is  final.  Much  has  been  learned  since 
the  Pioneers  of  France  in  the  New  World  went  to 
press  in  1865,  and  not  a  little  since  the  series  was 
completed  in  1892  with  A  Half -Century  of  Conflict. 
On  both  sides  of  the  international  boundary,  more 
particularly  among  the  French  writers  of  Canada, 
there  has  for  over  a  quarter  of  a  century  past  been 
an  unceasing  search  into  the  "deeper  deeps"  of 
the  history  of  New  France.  New  stores  of  material 
have  been  brought  to  light  and  published,  scores 
of  trained  historical  students  have  each  had  a  turn 
at  these  fresh  sources,  old  theories  have  been  criti- 
cally re  -  examined ;  and  not  unnaturally  many 
scholars  have  come  to  entertain  opinions  differing 
in  some  respects  from  those  held  by  the  older 
writers. 

So  far  as  space  and  the  aim  of  the  series  allow, 
an  attempt  has  been  made  in  the  present  volume 
to  give  the  story  of  New  France  as  it  appears  to 
modern  investigators.  Had  this  book  been  intend- 
ed to  stand  alone,  more  attention  would  of  course 
have  been  paid  to  English  colonial  institutions  and 
events,  as  contrasted  with  and  influencing  those  of 
the  French;  but  as  these  matters  are  sufficiently 
treated  in  other  volumes  of  the  series,  repetition  of 
facts  was  undesirable.  Some  of  the  characteristics 
of  New  France  and  its  people,  and  certain  features 
of  its  history,  are  susceptible  of  much  more  lib- 
eral treatment  than  is  herein  given ;  but  it  is  neces- 


AUTHOR'S    PREFACE  xxi 

sary  to  fashion  the  garment  to  the  wearer's  need, 
and  the  faithful  reader  of  the  series  will  doubt- 
less find  contained  in  other  volumes  most  if  not  all 
of  that  which  he  may  miss  in  this.  It  has  been 
customary  to  close  the  history  of  New  France  with 
the  treaty  of  Paris,  or  in  any  event  the  conspiracy 
of  Pontiac ;  the  present  writer  has,  however,  in  the 
interest  of  dramatic  continuity,  thought  it  desirable 
in  the  concluding  chapter  briefly  to  follow  the  sub- 
sequent fortunes  of  the  French  in  Louisiana,  until 
their  absorption  into  the  American  nation. 

Reuben  Gold  Thwaites. 


FRANCE    IN    AMERICA 


FRANCE    IN    AMERICA 


CHAPTER  I 

THE    PLANTING    OF    NEW    FRANCE 
(1497-1632) 

THIS  year  [1497]  on  St.  John  the  Baptist's  Day," 
did  "our  well-beloved  John  Cabot,  citizen  of 
Venice,"  bravely  set  forth  from  Bristol  in  The  Mat- 
thew, a  little  lug-sailed  vessel  of  fifty  tons  manned 
by  less  than  twenty  West-of- England  sailors.  The 
veteran  mariner  and  his  associates  had  been  com- 
missioned by  Henry  VII.  to  "set  up  our  banner  on 
any  new-found  land  .  .  .  upon  their  own  costs  and 
charges,  to  seek  out  and  discover  whatsoever  isles 
...  of  the  heathen  and  infidels,  which  before  the 
time  have  been  unknown  to  all  Christians  .  .  .  [and] 
to  pay  to  us  the  fifth  part  of  the  capital  gain  so 
gotten  for  every  then  voyage."  Fifty-three  days 
out,  Cabot  sighted  land  somewhere  within  or 
bordering  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence.  The  location 
cannot  be  stated  with  definiteness ;  an  animated 
controversy  has  been  waged  over  the  question  for 

3 


4  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1497 

several  years,  Cape  Breton  Island,  Newfotindland, 
Prince  Edward's  Island,  and  Labrador  having  each 
had  its  champions.  The  opinion  of  Dawson,  that 
the  landfall  is  in  the  neighborhood  of  North  Cape, 
on  Cape  Breton,  is,  however,  growing  in  favor.  ^  Of 
more  immediate  consequence  to  American  history 
was  the  fact  that  Cabot  carried  back  to  England 
news  of  the  rich  possibilities  of  the  cod -fishery 
thereabout,  especially  off  the  cliff -girt  bays  of 
Newfoundland .  ^ 

Ever  since  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century, 
and  perhaps  before,  Englishmen,  chiefly  from  the 
port  of  Bristol,  had  been  catching  cod  off  the  shores 
of  Iceland,  if,  indeed,  the  Labrador  coast  were  not 
included  in  the  range  of  their  activities.'  But 
Cabot's  report  turned  the  attention  of  Bristol  men 
to  Newfoundland,  and  thenceforth  the  Icelandic 
catch  held  but  second  place.  When,  the  following 
year,   the    discoverer    departed    upon    his    second 

'  Harrisse,  "Outcome  of  the  Cabot  Quarter-Centenary,"  in 
Am.  Hist.  Review,  IV.,  38-61,  would  place  it  in  Labrador. 
Dawson,  in  Can.  Royal  Soc,  Transactions,  XII.,  §  2,  pp.  51-112; 
2d  series,  II.,  §  2,  pp.  3-30;  and  2d  series,  III.,  §  2,  pp.  139-268, 
prefers  North  Cape,  as  above.  See  summing  up  in  Winship, 
Cabot  Bibliography,  Introd., -who  thinks  Dawson's  theory  prob- 
able but  not  proven;  and  that  on  the  return  Cabot's  vessel 
skirted  Newfoundland  as  far  as  Cape  Race. 

'  Cabot's  charter,  dated  March  5,  1496,  cited  in  Weare, 
Cabot's  Discovery,  96;  Prowse,  Newfoundland,  8.  For  a  more 
detailed  discussion  of  Cabot,  see  Bourne,  Spain  in  America 
(.4m.  Nation,  III.),  chap.  v. 

'  Prowse,  Newfoundland,  24-29,  summarizes  the  data  con- 
cerning early  Icelandic  fisheries. 


1504]  NEW    FRANCE  5 

voyage,  Devonshire  fishermen  and  traders — moved 
by  the  lusty  ambitions  of  a  decade  wherein  the 
habitable  portion  of  the  globe  had  suddenly  been 
doubled  by  the  discoveries  of  maritime  adventurers 
— joined  forces  and  sent  "out  of  Bristow  [Bristol] 
three  or  four  small  ships  fraught  with  sleight  and 
grosse  wares,  as  coarse  cloth,  caps,  laces,  points, 
and  such  other,"  their  purpose  being  to  make  hauls 
of  fish  and  to  barter  with  the  savages  of  the  "new 
isle"  and  the  neighboring  American  littoral.* 

It  is  not  unlikely  that  Norsemen  were  at  New- 
foundland early  in  the  eleventh  century;  but  they 
do  not  appear  to  have  made  any  settlement  upon 
this  new  coast,  which  with  its  dense  forests  of  conifers 
and  almost  countless  fiords  and  island  fringes  so 
closely  resembles  Norway  itself.  Claims  are  made, 
also,  that  Spanish  Basques,  who  were  among  the 
most  venturesome  of  deep-sea  fishers,  had  in  their 
large,  bulky  craft  preceded  Cabot  by  a  hundred 
years ;  but  it  is  doubtful  whether  they  went  in  force 
much  before  1545.  Portuguese  fishermen  appear 
to  have  arrived  in  1501,  and  Normans  and  Bretons 
three  years  later. ^  Thereafter,  for  a  century  and  a 
half,  hundreds  of  fishing-vessels  annually  resorted 
to  the  rugged  fiords  of  Newfoundland,  their  "  winter 
crews"  of  boat -builders  and  scaffold-men  settling 
themselves  in  small  longshore  colonies  according  to 

*  Stowe,  Annates,  482. 

'  Prowse,  Newfoundland,  43-49;  Harrisse,  Decouverte  et  Evo 
lution  Cartographique  de  Terre-Neuve,  xxxvii.-lxv. 


6  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1524 

nations — English,  French,  Portuguese,  and  Spanish. 
Enormous  hauls  of  cod  were  made,  the  fish  being 
flayed  and  dried  upon  great  stagings  which  lined  the 
shores,  in  much  the  same  manner  as  to-day ; '  while 
many  vessels  searched  in  northern  waters  for  seals 
and  whales.  Throughout  this  long  period,  although 
the  French  fisheries  were  for  several  generations 
greater  than  their  own,  the  fierce  and  hardy  men  of 
Devon  remained  in  chief  control  at  the  stormy  isl- 
and outpost  —  but  only  as  the  result  of  frequent 
bloody  struggles  with  still  ruder  Basques  and 
Bretons — fit  training  for  the  destruction  of  the 
Spanish  Armada  and  the  ousting  of  France  from 
the  American  main-land  nearly  two  centuries  later. 
After  the  dispersal  of  the  Armada  in  1588,  against 
which  many  a  Newfoundland  fishing  -  craft  was 
pitted,  England  was  recognized  as  mistress  of  the 
seas,  and  Spanish  ships  became  almost  unknown  on 
the  Grand  Banks,  where  for  forty  years  they  had 
mustered  fully  two  hundred  sail  and  six  thousand 
seamen.^ 

Upon  this  enormous  traffic  in  dried  fish,  much  of 
which  was,  and  still  is,  marketed  in  Mediterranean 
ports,  and  upon  the  accompanying  trade  for  furs 
with  neighboring  savages,  several  towns  in  northern 
France  and  western  England  greatly  prospered. 
The  numerous  landlocked  harbors  of  Newfound- 
land were,  in  those  early  days,  also  centres  of  a 

*  Prowse,  Newfoundland,  21,  59,  61,  etc. 
'  Ibid.,  51,  60,  81. 


1588]  NEW    FRANCE  7 

very  considerable  international  barter — the  cloths, 
hats,  hosiery,  and  cordage  of  west  England  being 
carried  thither  in  square-bowed  fishing-craft,  and 
exchanged  for  oils,  wines,  and  prints  brought  by  the 
larger  vessels  of  Spain  and  Portugal. 

St,  John's  was,  as  well,  a  port  of  call  for  most 
maritime  adventurers  to  North  America,  of  which 
Newfoundland  was  early  recognized  as  the  portal. 
Verrazzano  (1524),  Cartier  (1534,  1535,  1541),  Ro- 
berval  (1541),  Hawkins  (1565),  Parkhurst  (1578), 
and  Gilbert  (1578,  1583)  were  but  a  few  of  the  earli- 
est in  the  long  procession  which  sought  water,  pro- 
visions, and  recruits  in  a  harbor  which  by  this  time 
was  almost  as  familiar  to  the  seamen  of  western 
Europe  as  any  of  their  own.  Later,  the  first  set- 
tlers of  both  Virginia  and  New  England  foimd  it 
necessary  occasionally  to  resort  for  succor  to  their 
Newfoundland  compatriots,  whose  island  colony — 
oldest  of  England's  plantations  beyond  seas — had 
preceded  their  own  by  a  well-rounded  century. 

What  acquaintance  European  seamen  who  fre- 
quented Newfoundland  had  made  with  the  river 
St,  Lawrence  before  the  arrival  of  Jacques  Cartier 
is  now  unknown  ;^  but  it  is  not  unreasonable  to  sup- 
pose that  in  their  wide  range  for  fish  and  furs — 
during  which  Labrador  was  commonly  visited-^ 
they  must  not  infrequently  have  entered  the  great 
estuary  and  found  its  coasts  narrowing  to  the  banks 
of  a  tidal  stream.     Hakluyt  makes  such  a  claim  for 

^Discussion  in  Winsor,  Cartier  to  Frontenac,  10-15. 


8  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1534 

English  sea-rovers  early  in  the  sixteenth  century. 
But  voyages  of  this  character  were  seldom  recorded, 
and  tradition  is  an  uncertain  guide. 

In  1534,  Cartier,  a  master-pilot  of  St.  Malo — a 
port  which  for  thirty  years  had  annually  despatched 
many  vessels  to  the  American  fisheries — set  out 
under  the  commands  of  his  royal  master,  Francis  I., 
with  the  definite  purpose  of  formally  extending  the 
bounds  of  France.  After  touching  at  Newfound- 
land, he  explored  the  St.  Lawrence  "until  land 
could  be  seen  on  either  side."  The  next  year  he 
repeated  his  voyage,  and,  ascending  to  Lachine 
Rapids,  the  head  of  navigation  from  the  sea,  named 
the  island  mountain  at  their  foot  Mont-Royal.  His 
report*  of  a  winter's  experience  (1535-1536)  in  this 
inhospitable  climate,  near  the  gray  cliff  of  Quebec, 
gave  pause  to  Frenchmen  in  their  western  coloniz- 
ing schemes;  further,  the  king  was  now  engaged  at 
home  in  serious  difficulties  with  Spain,  and  had 
neither  thought,  time,  nor  money  for  continuing 
the  exploration  of  North  America. 

When  at  last  a  truce  had  been  declared  between 
France  and  Spain,  Cartier  was  made  captain-general 
and  pilot  of  a  new  fleet  of  five  vessels  which  was  to 
bear  to  America  the  king's  viceroy,  Jean  Frangois 
de  la  Roche,  better  known  as  Roberv^al,  from  his 
estates  in  Picardy.  A  month  later  than  the  time 
set,  Roberval  having  failed  to  arrive,  Cartier  set  sail 

•  Brief  Ricit,  printed  at  Paris  in  1545  and  since  included  in 
Pinkerton,  Voyages,  and  other  collections. 


1562]  NEW    FRANCE  9 

with  three  ships  (May,  1541),  and  in  August  was 
again  at  Quebec,  where  he  built  a  post  which  he 
abandoned  in  the  spring,  thence  returning  to  France. 
It  is  said  that  in  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  he  met 
the  belated  Roberval  coming  with  supplies,  and 
with  colonists  who  had  for  this  purpose  been  liber- 
ated from  French  jails.  The  Picard  remained  for 
a  year  at  Quebec,  whose  crude  fortifications  he  re- 
stored and  bettered,  and  he  attempted  some  interior 
exploration;  but  his  community  was  one  requiring 
a  liberal  use  of  the  lash  and  the  gibbet,  and  gave 
him  little  peace.  There  are  reports  that  Cartier  was 
sent  to  bring  him  home  in  1543.  After  the  king's 
settlement  of  the  accounts  of  the  joint  expedition 
(April  3,  1544),  both  Cartier  and  Roberval  pass  from 
our  view.^ 

France  was  now  in  the  throes  of  civil  war;  the 
Huguenots,  struggling  bitterly  against  the  domina- 
tion of  a  hierarchy  which  rigidly  controlled  the  state, 
engaged  all  of  the  king's  means  of  repression.  Seek- 
ing a  refuge  for  his  persecuted  countrymen,  the 
great  Huguenot  leader.  Admiral  Coligny,  attempted 
to  establish  a  colony  of  French  Protestants  in 
America.  His  Port  Royal,  planted  in  1562  on  the 
river  Broad,  proved  a  failure;  and  a  settlement  of 
two  years  later,  on  St.  John's  River,  was  razed  by 
jealous  Spaniards  sallying  from  St.  Augustine.^ 

'  Winsor,  Cartier  to  Frontenac,  23-47;  Tyler,  England  in 
America  (Ant.  Nation,  IV.),  284-286. 

'  Bourne,  Spain  in  America  (Am.  Nation,  III.),  chap.  xii. 
VOL    vn. — 3 


lo  FRANCE    IN   AMERICA  [1598 

It  was  not  until  1598*  that  another  attempt  was 
made  by  France,  this  time  to  found  a  colony  on  the 
St.  Lawrence.  In  that  year  Troilus  du  Mesgonez, 
Marquis  de  la  Roche,  headed  two  ships  laden  with 
the  usual  crowd  of  degenerates — for  in  that  day 
the  sweepings  of  jails  and  gutters  were  commonly 
thought  to  furnish  proper  material  for  colonization 
over -seas.  Landing  his  unmanageable  vagabonds 
on  lonely  Sable  Island,  he  essayed  to  search  for  a 
site  on  the  main-land,  far  beyond ;  but  storms  drove 
his  ships  back  to  France,  where  he  at  once  fell  into 
political  difficulties  which  resulted  in  his  imprison- 
ment. It  was  not  until  five  years  later  that  a 
chance  rescue  came  to  the  abandoned  colonists,  who 
had  had  a  pitiful  experience,  dallying  with  death 
upon  this  sandy  reef  which  lies  in  a  region  of  al- 
most perpetual  mists  and  chilling  blasts. 

In  1600  a  commercial  partnership  was  formed  be- 
tween Francois  Grave,  the  Sieur  du  Pont  (com- 
monly called  Pontgrave),  a  St.  Malo  trading  mariner 
who  had  been  upon  the  St.  Lawrence  as  far  up  as 
Three  Rivers;  a  wealthy  Honfleur  merchant,  Pierre 
Chauvin,  who  was  a  Calvinist  friend  of  Henry  IV. ; 
and  another  rich  Calvinist  named  Pierre  du  Guast, 
Sieur  de  Monts.  Despite  the  vigorous  protests  of 
St.  Malo  merchants,  who  asserted  that  their  long 
protection  of  French  rights  in  that  quarter  gave 
them  a  claim  to  the  American  trade,  to  these  three 
men  was  granted  a  royal  monopoly  of  the  fur-trade 

'Possibly  1578;  Winsor,  Cartier  to  Frontenac,  76,  gives  1590. 


i6o3]  NEW    FRANCE  ii 

in  the  New  World.*  They  made  two  successful 
voyages  to  Tadoussac,  but  the  majority  of  the  men 
left  behind  to  btiild  a  fort  met  death  from  cold  and 
starvation. 

Chauvin  dying,  he  was  succeeded  by  Amyar  de 
Chastes,  a  prominent  friend  of  the  king,  who  con- 
tracted a  partnership  with  Pontgrave  and  several 
Rouen  and  St.  Malo  traders.  In  1603,  Pontgrave 
took  out  with  him  Samuel  de  Champlain,  com- 
missioned by  the  king  as  pilot  and  chronicler  of 
the  expedition,  which  proceeded  as  far  as  Lachine 
Rapids,  and  returned  with  large  cargoes  of  furs. 
Champlain  was  an  experienced  seaman  who  had 
commanded  a  vessel  in  West  Indian  waters,  and 
now  entered  upon  a  career  which  has  made  him 
perhaps  the  most  famous  figure,  as  he  certainly  is 
one  of  the  most  picturesque,  in  the  romantic  his- 
tory of  New  France.^ 

Upon  reaching  Honfleur  they  learned  that  De 
Chastes  had  died,  thus  leaving  without  a  head  the 
colonization  scheme  on  which  Pontgrave  and  Cham- 
plain were  to  report.  By  permission  of  the  king, 
however,  his  place  was  taken  by  that  equally  dis- 
tinguished nobleman  the  Sieur  de  Monts — "a  gen- 
tleman of  great  respectability,  zeal,  and  honesty," 
declares  Champlain — whose  voyage  to  Tadoussac 


*  Biggar,  Early  Trading  Companies  of  New  France,  "traces  the 
birth  and  growth  of  commerce  down  to  the  year  1632." 

^  Slafter,  memoir  in  Prince  Soc.  ed  of  Champlain' s  Voyages; 
Gravier,  Champlain. 


12  FRANCE    IN   AMERICA  [1603 

we  have  already  chronicled.  De  Monts  was  given 
the  viceroyalty  and  trade  monopoly  of  all  of  North 
America  between  the  fortieth  and  forty-sixth  de- 
grees of  latitude,  with  directions  to  found  a  set- 
tlement. It  was  specified  in  his  commission  that 
Huguenot  colonists  were  to  be  granted  religious 
freedom ;  but  the  savages  must  be  instructed  in  the 
faith  of  Rome. 

De  Monts,  Champlain,  Pontgrave,  and  a  friend  of 
De  Monts,  the  Baron  de  Poutrincourt,  set  forth  in 
three  ships,  accompanied  by  some  six  score  of  arti- 
sans, both  Catholics  and  Protestants,  who  were  re- 
spectively served  by  "a  priest  and  a  minister." 
Touching  in  the  neighborhood  of  what  is  now  An- 
napolis Royal,  Nova  Scotia — at  Lower  Granville,  on 
the  northwest  shore  of  Annapolis  Basin — Poutrin- 
court concluded  to  settle  there,  and,  styling  the 
place  Port  Royal,  returned  home  for  his  family. 
The  others  proceeded  to  St.  Croix  Island  (June, 
1605),  at  the  head  of  Passamaquoddy  Bay,  near  the 
present  boimdary  between  Maine  and  New  Bruns- 
wick ;  but  the  following  spring,  after  a  winter  of  rare 
suffering  and  death-dealing  scurvy,  moved  to  Port 
Royal,  which  thus  was  the  first  enduring  French  set- 
tlement planted  on  the  main-land  of  North  America. 
An  entertaining  and  spirited  account  of  life  at  this 
lonely  outpost  has  come  down  to  us  from  the  pen  of 
Lescarbot,*  a  lawyer-poet  who  was  of  the  gay  com- 
pany whom  De  Monts  and  his  colleagues  had  gathered 

'  Lescarbot,  Histoire  de  la  Nouvelle  France. 


i6i2]  NEW    FRANCE  13 

about  them.  But  an  alleged  wholesale  conversion 
of  natives  by  the  priest  of  the  party,  widely  herald- 
ed at  the  time,  appears  to  have  been  a  clever  pre- 
tence to  win  the  favor  of  the  Catholic  court.  ^ 

The  superior  defensiveness  of  Quebec  was  early 
appreciated;  nevertheless,  the  Bay  of  Fundy,  and 
particularly  the  isolated  eastern  peninsula,  early 
called  Acadia,  was  strategically  of  immense  impor- 
tance to  the  coast  of  New  France.  Hence,  Acadia 
was  firmly  held  against  English  claims  and  suffered 
the  usual  hard  fate  of  a  buffer  colony. 

England  claimed  North  America  by  virtue  of  the 
discoveries  of  the  two  Cabots  (1497-1498),  France  by 
that  of  Verrazzano  (1524),  and  the  Spanish  by  Co- 
lumbus's voyages,  quickly  followed  by  internal  ex- 
ploration. The  sixteenth  century  witnessed  abor- 
tive colonizing  efforts  north  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico 
by  all  three  nations ;  but  it  was  not  until  the  open- 
ing of  the  seventeenth  that  the  contest  seriously 
commenced.  Eight  years  after  Henry  IV.  of  France 
had  given  to  De  Monts  the  country  between  the 
fortieth  and  forty-sixth  parallels,  Louis  XHL,  dis- 
regarding this  grant,  conveyed  (161 2)  the  region 
between  Florida  and  the  St.  Lawrence  to  Madame 
de  Guercheville  and  the  Jesuits.  Early  in  the  cen- 
tury James  I.  of  England  began  also  to  parcel 
out  the  continent,  his  first  beneficiaries  being  (1606) 
the  combined  London  and  Plymouth  companies. 

*  See  Thwaites,  Jesuit  Relations,  I.,  for  details  and  for  Lescar- 
bot's  memoir  on  the  event. 


14  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1613 

In  1613,  Samuel  Argall,  "a  Virginia  sea-captain 
of  piratical  tastes,"  who  was  later  to  be  governor 
of  that  province,  without  warning  swooped  down 
upon  the  French  colonies  at  Port  Royal  and 
on  Mount  Desert  Island — the  latter  a  Jesuit  out- 
post on  the  firing-line — ^burned  the  buildings,  and 
expelled  the  inhabitants.^  Nine  years  after  this 
outrage  (1622),  and  while  the  former  residents  were 
gradually  repeopling  the  shores  of  Annapolis  Basin, 
James  I .  conveyed  to  Sir  William  Alexander,  Earl  of 
Stirling,  the  Acadian  peninsula  which  the  French 
held  by  right  of  occupation,  but  which  the  English 
king  now  claimed  and  rechristened  Nova  Scotia. 
In  addition  to  Nova  Scotia,  Sir  William  was  grant- 
ed a  generous  strip  three  hundred  miles  wide,  up 
the  gulf  and  river  of  St.  Lawrence.  The  new  owner 
of  Acadia  brought  over  a  few  Scotch  and  English,  who 
settled  at  and  refortified  old  Port  Royal,  the  French 
habitants  having  several  years  previously  removed 
to  the  site  of  the  present  Annapolis  Royal,  some 
twelve  miles  farther  up  the  basin.  But  it  was  im- 
possible to  make  headway  against  their  French 
neighbors.  The  latter  soon  absorbed  the  fresh  ar- 
rivals, whose  descendants,  Gallicized  both  in  name 
and  blood,  in  the  following  century  took  sides  against 
Great  Britain. 

Although  stronger  than  Sir  William's  handful  of 
immigrants,  the  French  colony  in  Acadia  was  still 
feeble.     Few  of  the  settlers  were  adept  at  agricult- 

•  Tyler,  England  in  America  {Am.  Nation,  IV.),  72,  289. 


i6so]  NEW    FRANCE  15 

ure;  the  native  population  was  small,  and  the 
hunting-ground  was  limited,  with  consequent  re- 
striction of  the  fur -trade.  The  original  seigneur, 
Poutrincourt,  had  lacked  sufficient  resources,  and 
owing  to  the  fickleness  of  the  Versailles  court  was 
able  to  give  slight  assistance.  His  son  and  successor, 
Biencourt,  became  a  coureur  de  bois,  and  long  lived 
on  much  the  same  scale  as  his  aboriginal  compan- 
ions; while  his  successors,  the  La  Tours  and  d'Aul- 
nay,  rival  fur-trade  chiefs  and  corsairs,  fought  a 
bloody  feud  that  lasted  until  the  death  of  the  lat- 
ter in  1650.^  This  internecine  war,  abounding  in 
piratical  raids  of  the  most  furious  character,  kept 
the  shores  of  the  Bay  of  Fundy  in  a  constant  and 
improfitable  turmoil  throughout  nearly  half  a  cen- 
tury; the  imfortunate  habitants — fishers,  trappers, 
hunters,  and  roving  adventurers,  many  of  them 
half-breeds,  but  none  of  them  paying  much  more 
attention  to  their  fields  than  did  the  Indians — 
being  ranged  like  feudal  retainers  in  the  service  of 
their  respective  lords.  "They  belonged  to  an 
epoch  that  is  lost  in  the  mists  of  antiquity.  Bien- 
court, d'Aulnay,  the  two  de  la  Tours,  Saint-Castin, 
Denys,  Subercasse,  Marpain,  are  so  many  legendary 
heroes  whose  names  are  still  re-echoed  by  forest 

'See  detailed  narrative  by  Parkman,  "The  Feudal  Chiefs  of 
Acadia,"  in  Atlantic  Monthly,  LXXI.,  25,  201;  Mass.  Hist. 
Soc,  Collections,  3d  series,  VII.,  90-121;  Quebec  Hist.  Soc, 
Transactions,  III.,  236-241;  Hazard,  Hist.  Collections,  I.,  307- 
309,  541-544;  Charlevoix,  New  France  (Shea's  ed.),  III.,  124- 
138. 


i6  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1607 

and  rock  from  New  Hampshire  to  the  inmost  re- 
cesses of  the  Bay  of  Fundy."  ^ 

Sir  WilHam  Alexander  was  able  to  maintain  a 
nominal  hold  upon  the  country  only  by  spasmodi- 
cally coming  to  terms  with  whichever  fur-trade 
faction  chanced  at  the  moment  to  be  uppermost — 
a  feat  of  opportunist  diplomacy  imitated  by  the 
French  court,  whose  authority  the  prevailing  chief- 
tain also  privately  acknowledged.  Throughout  all 
the  nominal  changes  in  political  mastery,  this  little 
theatre  of  discord  witnessed  the  same  play  of  miser- 
able international  intrigue,  reprehensible  to  all  con- 
cerned, which  was  to  end  in  the  ruin  of  the  unhappy 
Acadians. 

Convinced  that  the  rock  of  Quebec  was  far  better 
suited  than  Port  Royal  for  the  needs  of  a  strong- 
hold of  French  power,  Champlain  induced  De  Monts 
to  authorize  a  colony  there.  The  latter  thereupon 
secured  for  his  friend  the  governorship  of  New 
France,  and  sent  him  out  with  Pontgrav^  in  two 
well-equipped  ships  to  found  (July,  1608)  the 
capital  of  the  king's  western  possessions.  It  was 
a  fortunate  site,  not  only  far  removed  from  the 
meddlesome  English,  who  were  now  established  at 
Jamestown  (1607),  ^^^  were  freely  examining  the 
Atlantic  coast  with  a  disposition  to  regard  the 
French  as  intruders,  but  advantageously  situated 
for  commanding  the  Indian  traffic  of  an  immense 

'Richard,  Acadia,  I,  28;  Tyler,  England  in  America  {Am. 
Nation,  IV.),  289.  306-310. 


1634]  NEW   FRANCE  17 

drainage  basin,  and  for  despatching  exploring  ex- 
peditions to  the  interior.  The  cHff  overtowering 
the  Httle  settlement  on  the  strand  of  Quebec  was 
under  ordinary  conditions  practically  impregnable, 
and  seemed  an  ideal  situation  for  a  fortress  guard- 
ing the  door  of  a  vast  continent. 

Various  motives  contributed  to  the  establish- 
ment and  maintenance  of  New  France.  The  king 
very  naturally  was  moved  by  a  passion  for  terri- 
torial expansion;  the  church  was  eager  to  convert 
the  heathen  savages  of  the  New  World;  the  fur- 
trade,  although  abounding  in  great  risks,  was  at 
times  so  profitable  as  to  stimulate  the  cupidity  of 
merchants ;  the  hope  of  finding  deposits  of  precious 
metals  was  predominant  in  the  minds  of  speculators ; 
the  army  and  the  navy  were  ambitious  for  gallant 
exploits;  and  the  French  people  in  general  were  in 
that  eventful  period  imbued  with  a  generous  yearn- 
ing for  adventure  in  strange  lands.  Conquest,  ex- 
ploration, missionary  zeal,  and  the  fur-trade  were, 
therefore,  for  a  hundred  and  fifty  years  the  control- 
ling and  often  warring  interests  of  New  France. 

Champlain,  who  loved  to  roam,  in  person  con- 
ducted several  exploring  parties,  chiefly  up  the 
Saguenay  and  the  Ottawa,  and  into  the  country 
around  Lake  Champlain.  In  161 5  he  was  upon  the 
shores  of  Lake  Huron,  vainly  searching  for  a  west- 
ering waterway  through  the  heart  of  the  continent. 
In  1634  one  of  his  agents,  Jean  Nicolet,  penetrated 
as  far  as  Wisconsin  and  made  trading  compacts 


i8  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1609 

with  the  tribesmen  of  that  distant  land.*  The 
year  following  (December  25,  1635),  the  advent- 
urous, pious,  and  tactful  governor  departed  from 
this  Hfe.  With  its  back  to  the  wall,  the  hamlet  of 
Quebec  had  under  his  guidance  defied  savage  ene- 
mies, the  forbidding  climate,  the  meagre  soil,  and 
all  the  numerous  train  of  obstacles  which  at  first 
beset  European  colonization  in  the  North  American 
wilderness.  From  a  political  point  of  view,  Cham- 
plain  had  laid  deep  the  foundations  of  New  France ; 
he  had  spread  the  sphere  of  French  influence  north- 
ward to  the  barren  lands  of  Labrador  and  Lake  St. 
John,  westward  as  far  as  the  interlocking  streams 
which  in  Wisconsin  form  the  principal  canoe  route 
to  the  Mississippi,  and  southward  to  the  banks  of  the 
Mohawk  and  the  Hudson ;  while  through  the  active 
vehicle  of  intertribal  barter  Paris -made  weapons 
and  utensils  had  penetrated  into  the  most  distant 
tribes  of  the  continental  interior.^ 

In  another  important  particular,  however,  Cham- 
plain's  dreams  had  not  been  realized.  He  earnestly 
sought  to  make  of  New  France  an  agricultural 
colony ;  but  we  have  seen  that  the  enterprise  origi- 
nated with  a  commercial  monopoly  which,  while 

•  Butterfield,  Discovery  of  tlie  Northwest;  Wis.  Hist.  Collections, 
XL,  1-25. 

'  Specifically,  Sagard,  Hisioire  du  Canada  (ed.  of  1866),  193, 
194;  Marquette,  in  Jesuit  Relations  (Thwaites's  ed.j,  LIX.,  127; 
La  Chesnaye  (1697),  in  Margry,  Decouvertes  et  Etablissentents 
des  Franfais,  VL,  3.  On  the  whole  subject,  Parkman,  Pioneers 
of  New  France,  230;  Turner,  Indian  Trade  in  Wisconsin  {Johns 
Hopkins  University  Studies,  IX.,  Nos.  11,  12). 


1663]  NEW    FRANCE  19 

pleasing  the  court  with  a  pretence  of  concern  for 
Christianizing  the  heathen,  doubtless  had  no  further 
desire  than  to  extract  from  the  country  its  full 
measure  of  profit  in  trading  with  the  natives  for 
furs.  Until  1663  the  colony  on  the  St.  Lawrence 
maintained  a  precarious  existence  under  the  bane- 
ful management  of  a  succession  of  self-seeking  cor- 
porations. The  winning  of  a  sustenance  from  the 
reluctant  soil  of  eastern  Canada  required  greater 
toil  and  thrift  than  mercantile  adventurers  were 
willing  to  bestow;  the  far-stretching  rivers  were  a 
continual  invitation  to  explore  and  exploit  the 
wilderness  and  its  strange  inhabitants;  the  fur 
trade  was  the  only  apparent  source  of  wealth — just 
as  cod  -  fisheries  were  accounted  the  one  valuable 
asset  of  Newfoundland  and  of  the  maritime  colo- 
nies on  the  shores  of  Acadia,  where  Poutrincourt 
and  his  successors  and  rivals  were  leading  factious 
but  picturesque  careers. 

The  trading  and  colonizing  charter  granted  to 
De  Monts  had  been  cancelled  in  1609.  For  two 
years  Champlain  kept  the  plantation  alive  mainly 
by  the  aid  of  merchant  adventurers  in  Rouen ;  when 
they  withdrew  (161 1)  he  secured  the  formation  of 
a  new  company,  composed  of  merchants  in  Rouen, 
Havre,  St.  Malo,  and  La  Rochelle.  This  concern 
finally  went  to  pieces  through  jealousy,  and  amid  a 
storm  of  complaints  that  certain  members  were  sell- 
ing arms  and  ammunition  to  the  savages  and  thus 
endangering  the  Quebec  settlement.     The  Company 


20  FRANCE    IN   AMERICA  [1611 

of  Associates  was  thereupon  organized,  with  Cham- 
plain  and  De  Monts  as  the  most  prominent  mem- 
bers ;  but  religious  and  commercial  differences  arose, 
and  in  the  midst  of  the  quarrels  Champlain  for  a 
time  stood  in  danger  of  losing  his  command.  In 
1620  the  corporation  was  dissolved,  its  successor 
being  what  is  known  as  the  Company  of  De  Caen. 
Seven  years  later  Richelieu  secured  the  dissolution 
of  the  latter  and  the  substitution  of  his  own  monop- 
oly, commonly  called  the  Company  of  the  Hundred 
Associates.  This  powerful  organization  was  grant- 
ed almost  sovereign  jurisdiction  throughout  the  vast 
transatlantic  claims  of  the  French,  extending  from 
Florida  to  the  arctic  circle,  and  from  Newfound- 
land to  the  "great  fresh  lake"  of  Huron.^ 

Previous  monopolies  had  included  Protestants  in 
their  membership,  and  much  of  the  trouble  origi- 
nated from  religious  dissension,  for  it  was  a  time 
when  men  could  not  peacefully  agree  to  disagree 
in  such  matters.  The  Hundred  Associates,^  how- 
ever, admitted  none  but  Catholics.  Huguenots  and 
foreigners  were  not  permitted  to  enter  New  France, 
and  for  fifteen  years  the  company  was  to  maintain 
and  equip  priests  at  each  settlement  or  station. 
While  internal  harmony  was  thus  secured,  the  re- 
sult was  most  unfortunate;  for  among  the  Hugue- 

'  See  analysis  and  references  upon  this  charter  in  Cheyney, 
European  Background  {Am.  Nation,  I.),  156-160. 

*  Actually  one  hundred  and  seven.  See  list  in  Du  Creux, 
Historia  Canadensis,  sig.  b;  the  charter  and  other  interesting 
particulars  in  Suite,  Htsioire  des  Canadiens-Franfats ,  II.,  27-33. 


1625]  NEW    FRANCE  21 

nots  now  being  harried  from  France  were  some  of 
the  best  material  in  the  nation;  and,  forbidden  to 
enter  Canada,  these  vigorous  people  were  soon  em- 
ployed in  developing  rival  English  colonies  to  the 
south. 

From  the  first,  the  court,  largely  influenced  by 
the  church,  was  much  concerned  with  the  conver- 
sion of  the  Indians.  The  Calvinist  De  Monts  had 
been  allowed  to  take  out  Huguenot  ministers  for 
those  of  his  companions  who  wished  them;  but 
missions  to  the  natives  must  be  conducted  solely 
by  Catholic  clergy.  Jesuits  had  been  ordered  to  New 
France  by  King  Henry  IV.  as  early  as  16 10;  but 
their  experiences  were  not  happy,  for  at  Port  Royal 
Poutrincourt's  son  opposed  them,  and  we  have  seen 
that  at  Mount  Desert  English  sea  -  rovers  from 
Virginia  demolished  their  settlement  (16 13).  In 
161 5  Champlain  introduced  to  Quebec  four  mem- 
bers of  the  fraternity  of  Recollects,  the  most  au- 
stere of  the  three  Franciscan  orders.  For  ten 
years  these  gray  friars  practised  the  rites  of  the 
church  in  the  Canadian  woods,  all  the  way  from 
the  fishing  and  trading-post  of  Tadoussac,  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Saguenay,  to  the  western  lake  of 
the  Nipissings,  on  the  road  to  Lake  Huron.  But 
when  Richelieu  began  to  assume  control,  the  argu- 
ment was  advanced  that  ministrations  of  a  sterner 
order  were  needed  for  this  work.  The  Recollects 
were  therefore  induced  to  invite  the  aid  of  the  pow- 
erful Jesuits,  who  just  then  were  conducting  sue- 


22  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1625 

cessful  missions  in  Asia,  Africa,  and  South  America. 
In  1625  three  of  the  "black  gowns"  appeared  at 
Quebec,  and  immediately  the  field  of  operations 
broadened,  although  it  was  soon  seen  that  the  suc- 
cessful promulgation  of  the  peaceful  doctrines  of 
Christianity  was  to  be  no  holiday  task  among  the 
warlike  tribes  of  the  great  Algonquian  family/ 

In  July,  1628,  a  predatory  English  fleet  under 
Admiral  Sir  David  Kirk  took  possession  of  Tadous- 
sac,  and  a  year  later  secured  the  imresisting  sur- 
render of  Quebec  from  the  hands  of  Champlain,  who 
had  with  him  only  sixteen  combatants.  The  gov- 
ernor, together  with  the  missionaries,  were  trans- 
ported to  England,  but  eventually  they  were  al- 
lowed to  proceed  to  France.  Three  years  later 
(1632)  Canada  was  retroceded  to  France, Hhe  Hun- 
dred Associates  now  began  their  work  in  earnest, 
and  the  Jesuits  were  allowed  a  monopoly  of  the  in- 
terior missions,  which  they  rapidly  developed;  the 
Recollects  being  thereafter  confined  to  the  mari- 
time districts — the  ill-defined  region  to  which  was 
now  applied  the  general  term  Acadia,  heretofore 
chiefly  confined  to  the  Nova  Scotia  peninsula. 

'  Details  in  Thwaites,  Jesuit  Relations,  passim. 

*  Cf.  Tyler,  England  in  America  {Am.  Nation,  IV.),  290. 


CHAPTER    II 

THE    ACADIAN    FRONTIER 
(1632-1728) 

ANOTHER  wave  of  foreign  war  reached  the  shores 
i\  of  Acadia  in  1654,  when  Port  Royal,  Fort  St. 
Jean  (the  St.  John  of  our  day),  and  other  little 
strongholds  on  the  Bay  of  Fundy,  fell  victims  to  a 
New  England  force  under  Major  Robert  Sedgwick, 
a  sturdy  Cromwellian  soldier  who  held  a  commis- 
sion from  the  Protector.  Thirteen  years  later  (1667) 
the  peninsula  was  restored  to  France  by  the  treaty 
of  Breda,  the  white  population  at  that  time  be- 
ing only  about  four  hundred  souls,  of  whom  less 
than  a  fourth  lived  beyond  cannon-shot  of  Port 
Royal.  ^ 

Isolated,  neglected  by  France,  having  but  slight 
communication  with  Canada,  and  constantly  ex- 
posed to  naval  assaults  from  the  English  colonies 
to  the  south,  the  little  band  of  Acadians  had  by 
this  time  acquired  characteristics  all  their  own. 
They  had  become  toughened  by  the  harsh  condi- 

'In  estimates  of  Acadian  population,  we  follow  Richard, 
Acadia. 

23 


24  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1632 

tions  of  a  protracted  civil  war,  the  frequent  strug- 
gles now  imposed  upon  them  by  English  invaders, 
and  the  roving  character  of  their  life,  to  an  inde- 
pendence of  thought  and  action  seldom  met  with 
elsewhere  in  New  France.  Affairs  were  discussed 
and  decided  in  public  meetings,  much  after  the 
fashion  of  New  England,  and  the  habitants  were  ac- 
customed to  the  necessity  of  thinking  for  them- 
selves. The  frugal  habits  and  simple  tastes  and 
manners  of  their  forebears  were  tenaciously  retained ; 
bookishly  ignorant,  they  were  easily  satisfied  as  to 
material  things ;  they  held  devotedly  to  the  Catholic 
faith,  being  content  to  allow  the  priests,  men  quite 
of  their  own  type,  to  influence  their  action  in  tem- 
poral as  well  as  in  spiritual  affairs.  Hating  the 
English  as  they  had  good  right  to — for  heretic 
raiders  from  New  England,  bent  on  burning  and 
harrying  these  coastwise  settlements,  had  become 
an  annual  possibility — nevertheless,  they  were  apt 
to  find  themselves  happier  under  English  rule, 
which,  when  the  carnage  ceased,  at  least  left  them 
free  to  manage  their  own  domestic  affairs;  whereas 
fussy  French  officialism,  seeking  to  fasten  upon 
them  the  feudal  conditions  elsewhere  prevalent 
in  New  France,  greatly  annoyed  these  honest 
folk  who  had  become  accustomed  to  town-meeting 
methods. 

There  were,  and  could  be,  no  definite  bounds  be- 
tween New  England  and  New  France,  each  growing 
and  aggressive.     The  Bay  of  Fundy  region  was  in 


1689]  ACADIAN    FRONTIER  25 

constant  dispute.  To  France  it  was  necessary  as 
protection  to  her  portal,  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence; 
to  the  English  this  argument  was  in  itself  sufficient 
reason  for  covetousness. 

Thus  far  there  had  been  no  serious  attempt  on 
the  part  of  English  colonists  to  venture  westward 
of  the  Alleghany  barrier ;  but  they  were  now  eagerly 
spreading  all  over  the  Atlantic  slope,  and  the  ad- 
venturous spirits  of  New  England  and  New  York 
found  their  outlet  to  the  north.  Their  stockaded 
trading-posts,  soon  surrounded  by  hamlets  of  back- 
woodsmen, were  being  established  all  along  the 
eastern  frontier  of  Indian  tribes  who  in  the  west 
and  north  were  the  neighbors  of  New  France.  The 
French,  on  the  other  hand,  were  reaching  down  into 
Maine  and  New  Hampshire  with  their  fur-trade  and 
mission  stations. 

A  clash  was  inevitable.  Frenchmen  upon  the 
Bay  of  Fundy  had  had  long  and  severe  military 
training;  among  them  were  competent  Indian  lead- 
ers, and  Algonquian  blood  coursed  the  veins  of  some 
of  the  most  prominent  of  the  men  of  European  race, 
while  the  spirit  of  conquest  was  abroad.  The  Eng- 
lish borderers,  in  their  block  -  house  farmsteads, 
were  not  long  in  discovering  that  Acadia  had  be- 
come a  hotbed  for  French  and  Indian  marauding 
parties  that  fought  with  torch  and  tomahawk. 
Acadian  fishermen  also  sought  to  capture  English 
fishing-vessels  that  entered  upon  their  waters.  It 
is  small  wonder  that  between  the  treaty  of  Breda 


26  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1689 

and  1 7 10  Port  Royal  alone  suffered  five  assaults 
from  New  England  expeditions/ 

King  William's  War  (1689-1697)  occurred  when 
the  entire  population  of  New  France  was  not  great- 
er than  twelve  thousand,  whereas  New  England  and 
New  York  alone  held  a  himdred  thousand  inhabi- 
tants. New  France  would  have  suffered  severely 
in  a  struggle  with  the  English  coast  colonies,  had 
it  not  been  for  the  help  of  her  Indian  allies,  the 
strategical  strength  of  her  important  posts,  the 
fighting  capacity  of  her  well-trained  militia,  and 
the  dissensions  which  existed  in  the  councils  of  the 
English   colonists. 

French  operations  in  this  war,  under  Governor 
Frontenac,  were  vigorous,  consisting  of  three  winter 
expeditions  (i 689-1691),  in  which  Indians  were 
chiefly  engaged,  savagely  attacking  the  long  line  of 
English  frontier  at  widely  separated  points — New 
York,  New  Hampshire,  and  Maine.  Great  alarm 
was  thereby  occasioned  in  the  English  colonies,  and 
small  wonder;  for,  despite  the  relative  strength  of 
her  children  over-sea,  at  this  time  the  population  and 
resources  of  the  mother-land  were  less  than  half 
those  of  France,  which  was  the  strongest  country  in 
Europe;  and  Louis  XIV.  was  actuated  by  a  lust  for 
land  which  in  the  end  was  to  prove  fatal,  but  to 

*  In  1680,  1690,  1704,  1707,  1710.  Calnek  and  Savary, 
County  of  Annapolis,  34-62;  Charlevoix,  New  France,  III.,  211, 
v.,  170,  191 -201;  Nova  Scotia  Hist.  Collections,  I.,  59-64", 
Hutchinson,  Hist,  of  Mass.  Bay,  II.,  143-171,  182-184,  196- 
204. 


1697]  ACADIAN    FRONTIER  27 

the  Englishmen  of  his  time  appeared  seriously  to 
threaten  English  colonization  in  America. 

The  Iroquois  and  several  of  the  western  tribes, 
notably  the  Ottawa,  were  egged  on  by  them  to  at- 
tack the  French,  which  they  did  with  a  barbarity 
quite  equalling  the  Algonquian  forays  on  English 
backwoodsmen.  For  a  time  these  irregular  counter 
raids  seemed  insufficient,  and  the  first  colonial  con- 
gress was  held  at  New  York  (May  i,  1690)  to  devise 
joint  expeditions  against  Canada.  The  result  proved 
feeble,  but  the  convention  was  historically  impor- 
tant as  furnishing  a  precedent  for  future  colonial 
co-operation.^  A  New  England  fleet  with  eighteen 
hundred  militia  commanded  by  Sir  William  Phipps, 
captured  Port  Royal  that  summer,  and  consequent- 
ly Acadia;  but  in  the  following  season,  Phipps 
having  left  too  small  a  garrison,  the  French  habi- 
tants retook  the  district,  and  their  king  retained  it 
under  the  treaty  of  Ryswick  (1697).^ 

Other  incidents  of  the  war  were  the  yielding  of 
Newfoundland  to  the  French  (1696),  who  held  the 
great  island  until  obliged  under  the  treaty  to  sur- 
render it  the  following  year;  and  five  years  of  ir- 
regular bushranging  along  the  New  York  and  New 
England  border,  both  sides  freely  using  Indian 
allies,  a  practice  in  which  the  French  were  by  train- 
ing, temperament,  and  association  the  more  expert. 

'  Frothingham,  Rise  of  the  Republic,  90-93,  gives  material  from 
Massachusetts  archives  not  readily  accessible  elsewhere. 
^  Cf.  Greene,  Provincial  America  {Am.  Nation,  YI.),  chap.  viii. 


28  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1697 

The  treaty  did  not,  however,  bring  peace  to  the 
harassed  borderers.  Intercolonial  hostilities  of  a 
merciless  character  continued  spasmodically  along 
the  frontier  throughout  the  period  of  five  years  be- 
tween the  treaty  of  Ryswick  and  the  breaking-out, 
in  1702,  of  Queen  Anne's  War,  known  in  Europe 
as  the  War  of  the  Spanish  Succession.  The  mili- 
tary operations  of  the  latter  were  of  a  character 
similar  to  those  of  the  preceding  war.  Of  three 
attempts  made  by  New  England  troops  to  recapt- 
ure the  peninsula  (1704,  1707,  and  17 10),  the  last 
was  successful,  Port  Royal  surrendering  to  Colonel 
Francis  Nicholson  after  an  heroic  defence  of  nine- 
teen days. 

By  the  terms  of  the  treaty  of  Utrecht  (17 13),* 
"All  of  Nova  Scotia  or  Acadia,  comprised  in  its 
ancient  limits,  as  also  the  city  of  Port  Royal,"  was 
definitively  ceded  to  Great  Britain,  in  whose  hands 
it  thereafter  remained,  the  first  solid  step  in  the 
conquest  of  New  France.  The  indefinite,  indeed 
curiously  clumsy,  phrasing  of  this  description,  of 
course  settled  nothing  as  to  the  boundaries  be- 
tween New  France  and  the  English  colonies.  These 
were  to  be  determined  by  a  joint  commission,  which 
was,  however,  never  appointed,  possibly  because  the 
questions  involved  were  of  too  delicate  a  nature 
for  arbitration;  a  half-century  later  they  were  re- 
ferred to  the  arbitrament  of  war. 

'  Text  in  Chalmers,  Treaties;  Gerard,  Peace  of  Utrecht;  Houston, 
Docs.  Illus.  Canadian  Constitution. 


1 7 13]  ACADIAN    FRONTIER  29 

In  the  absence  of  definitive  boundaries,  the 
French  now  stoutly  asserted  that  by  the  term 
Acadia  was  meant  only  the  peninsula  of  Nova 
Scotia,  a  plausible  contention  in  view  of  the  treaty 
phrase;  and  the  English  were  caustically  notified 
not  to  meddle  with  the  rest  of  the  country,  espe- 
cially to  the  west  and  southwest  of  the  Bay  of  Fundy, 
involving  most  of  the  hotly  disputed  border-line 
between  New  France  and  New  England.  The 
French  claim  extended  to  the  Kennebec  River, 
and  up  to  that  stream  they  proceeded  to  strengthen 
their  defences. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  English  contended  for 
what  they  claimed  to  be  the  common  understand- 
ing: that  Acadia  (which  in  1691  was  included  in  the 
new  charter  of  Massachusetts)  comprised  also  Cape 
Breton,  New  Brunswick,  and  so  much  of  Maine  as 
lay  beyond  the  Kennebec.  This  position  found 
abundant  warrant  in  old  French  documents,  it 
being  proved  that  therein,  so  long  as  the  French 
were  in  control,  the  term  Acadia  was  accepted 
among  them  as  embracing  the  entire  stretch  of  coun- 
try between  the  Kennebec  and  the  St.  Lawrence. 
As  Lahontan  said  in  1703:  "The  Coast  of  Acadia 
extends  from  Kenebeki,  one  of  the  frontiers  of  New 
England,  to  ITsle  Percee,  near  the  Mouth  of  the 
River  of  St.  Lawrence.  This  Sea-Coast  runs  almost 
three  hundred  Leagues  in  length."^     Already  Eng- 

*  Thwaites,  Lahontan' s  Voyages,  I.,  323;  see  also  documents 
in  Parkman,  Half-Century  of  Conflict,  App.,  273-287. 


30  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1713 

lish  fishing  and  trading  stations  had  crept  up  along 
the  coast  as  far  as  the  Kennebec,  and  preparations 
for  a  still  farther  advance  were  evident.^ 

The  Kennebec  forms  with  the  Chaudiere,  which 
empties  into  the  St.  Lawrence  opposite  Quebec,  a 
possible  although  difficult  portage  route  for  war 
and  trading  parties,  and  was  frequently  used  by 
French  and  Indians  upon  their  marauding  raids. 
Indeed,  the  long  and  undulating  water-shed  between 
the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  Atlantic  drainage  abounds 
in  chains  of  lakes  and  opposite-flowing  rivers  which 
can  be  used  in  short-cut  journeys  between  the  lower 
St.  Lawrence  and  the  sea.  Throughout  all  this  in- 
teresting region  of  forest  and  stream,  English  and 
French  traders  and  adventurers  frequently  met  and 
fought ;  but  the  Kennebec,  as  the  chief  trade-route 
and  war-path,  with  memories  of  both  King  William's 
and  Queen  Anne's  wars,  was  adopted  by  the  French 
as  their  boundary,  and  became  the  bone  of  a  heated 
contention. 

The  Massachusetts  policy  of  maintaining  among 
the  tribesmen  official  trading-posts,  with  fair  prices 
for  furs,  had,  south  of  the  Kennebec,  secured  to  the 
Puritans  the  friendship  of  the  natives  and  a  long 
peace.  But  the  Abenaki,  in  the  Kennebec  valley 
and  to  the  north,  remained  firm  in  their  adherence 
to  New  France.  Jesuit  missionaries  had  converted 
them,  and  taught  their  wards  to  hate  the  overbear- 
ing and  land-grabbing  English,  who  would  riiin  the 

*  S«e  Tyler,  England  in  America  {Am.  Nation,  IV.) ,  chap.  xvi. 


1713]  ACADIAN    FRONTIER  31 

hunting-grounds  by  converting  them  into  farms. 
After  the  treaty  of  Utrecht  the  French  strengthened 
this  alliance,  and  stockaded  the  native  villages,  there- 
by seeking  to  create  a  dense  line  of  Indian  op- 
position along  the  Kennebec  that  could  not  be 
penetrated  by  importunate  borderers  from  the 
south/ 

The  most  important  Abenaki  town  was  Norridge- 
wock,  seventy -five  miles  above  the  river -mouth. 
Its  spiritual  director  was  Father  Sebastien  Rale, 
concerning  whose  ability  and  energy  as  a  missionary, 
and  skill  in  savage  leadership,  there  can  be  no 
doubt;  but  politically  he  was  a  bigot,  and  hated 
Englishmen  as  though  the  children  of  the  evil  one. 
Agricultural  settlements  from  Massachusetts  stead- 
ily increased  in  this  quarter.  It  maddened  the 
nervous  and  excitable  Rale  to  find  the  English 
frontiersmen  stolidly  indifferent  to  arguments  and 
threats.  The  new-comers  obtained  lands  by  pur- 
chase from  certain  Indian  chiefs;  but  the  authority 
of  these  chiefs  to  dispose  of  the  common  hunting- 
ground  was  denied  by  Rale  and  the  rank  and  file 
of  the  tribesmen — properly  enough,  for  the  Indian 
polity  is  intensely  democratic,  and  the  chief  can  only 
act  when  his  followers  consent;  moreover,  Indians 
could    not    in    those    early    days    comprehend    the 


'  Documents  and  discussions  in  Baxter,  New  France  in  New 
England;  N.  Y.  Docs.  Rel.  to  Col.  Hist.,  IX.,  909-912,  933-935; 
Thwaites,  Jesuit  Relations,  LXVIL,  55-65,  97-119;  Franklin, 
Writings  (Sparks's  ed.),  IV.,  7,  8. 


32  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1713 

meaning  of  a  permanent  land  transfer,  their  notion 
being  that  the  courtesy  of  a  temporary  occupancy 
was  alone  sought,  and  that  in  due  time  they  would 
be  permitted  to  regain  their  hunting-grounds. 

While  Rale,  in  the  intensity  of  his  Anglophobia, 
may  not  have  personally  incited  his  people  to  actual 
warfare,  he  nevertheless  maintained  close  touch 
with  the  officials  at  Quebec  and  Louisburg,  who 
neglected  no  means  of  fostering  bad  blood;  and  he 
connived  at  the  introduction  of  war-parties  of  Ot- 
tawa, who  stirred  his  flock  to  frenzy.  In  1721  the 
New  England  border  was  cruelly  swept  by  savage 
raids,  the  inception  of  which  was  easily  traceable  to 
Norridgewock.  The  usual  quarrels  and  jealousies 
between  the  Massachusetts  governor  and  assem- 
bly led  to  a  two  years'  delay  in  retribution ;  but  in 
1723  an  initial  raid  was  made  by  Massachusetts 
men  upon  the  Penobscot,  and  a  French  missionary 
village  was  destroyed;  this  being  followed  the  next 
season  by  a  further  punitive  expedition  of  two  him- 
dred  volunteers,  who  proceeded  up  the  Kennebec, 
successfully  stormed  Norridgewock,  and  in  the  en- 
suing massacre  killed  Rale  himself.*  All  along  the 
Kennebec,  Abenaki  were  now  slaughtered  without 
mercy  by  bands  of  Massachusetts  rangers,  whose 
zest  for  killing  was,  when  jaded,  stimulated  by  an 

•Baxter,  New  France  in  New  England,  937-273;  Parkman, 
Half-Century  of  Conflict,  I.,  229-239;  Charlevoix,  New  France, 
v.,  268-281 ;  Thwaites.  Jesuit  Relations,  LXVII.,  231-347;  A^.  Y. 
Docs.  Rel.  to  Col.  Hist.,  IX.,  936-939;  Mass.  Hist.  Soc.,  Collec- 
tions, 2d  series,  VIII.,  245-267. 


1723]  ACADIAN    FRONTIER  33 

official  reward,  for  each  savage  scalp,  of  a  hundred 
pounds  in  depreciated  provincial  currency. 

This  irregular  border  strife,  which  lasted  through- 
out four  dark  and  bloody  years,  while  the  mother- 
countries  were  still  at  peace,  early  extended  as  far 
west  as  the  Hudson.  As  usual  in  such  cases,  in 
the  end  the  blow  fell  heaviest  upon  the  savages 
themselves.  Left  alone,  the  tribesmen  might  soon 
have  pleaded  for  mercy  from  English  wrath;  but 
French  officials  on  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  French 
partisans  in  the  Acadian  settlements,  would  hear  of 
no  yielding  on  the  part  of  their  dusky  dogs  of  war, 
and  so  the  weary  strife  went  on.  It  meant  the 
sapping  of  the  strength  of  New  France.  To  New 
England,  the  bitter  experience  proved  a  fit  training- 
school  for  the  independent  yeomen  who  were  in 
mighty  struggles  first  to  oust  their  French  rivals, 
and  then  cast  off  the  leading-strings  of  mother 
England  herself. 


CHAPTER    III 

THE    ST.   LAWRENCE    VALLEY 
(1632-1713) 

FROM  the  time  of  the  restoration  of  New  France 
(1632)  till  the  final  catastrophe  of  1759,  Canada 
remained  uninterruptedly  French;  and  from  the 
tide- water  of  the  St.  Lawrence  as  a  base,  French 
traders,  soldiers,  and  settlers  (habitants)  spread 
westward,  northward,  and  eventually  southward. 
In  the  year  of  the  restoration  probably  not  over  a 
hundred  and  eighty  of  its  inhabitants  might  prop- 
erly be  called  settlers,  with  perhaps  a  few  score 
military  men,  seafarers,  and  visiting  commercial 
adventurers.  The  majority  of  residents  of  course 
centred  at  Quebec,  with  a  few  at  the  outlying  trad- 
ing-posts of  Tadoussac  on  the  east.  Three  Rivers  on 
the  west,  and  the  intervening  hamlets  of  Beaupre, 
Beauport,  and  Isle  d'Orleans.  At  the  same  time 
the  English  and  Dutch  settlements  in  Virginia,  the 
Middle  Colonies,  and  Massachusetts  had  probably 
amassed  an  aggregate  population  of  twenty-five 
thousand — for  between  the  years  1627  and  1637 
upward  of  twenty  thousand  settlers  emigrated  thith- 
er  from    Europe.     While  the   English  government 

34 


i6i5]  ST.  LAWRENCE    VALLEY  35 

was  engaged  in  efforts  to  repress  the  migration 
towards  its  own  colonies,  the  utmost  endeavors  of 
the  powerful  French  companies,  their  arguments 
reinforced  by  bounties,  could  not  induce  more  than 
a  few  home-loving  Frenchmen  to  try  their  fortunes 
amid  the  rigors  of  the  New  World. 

With  all  his  tact,  Champlain  had  committed  one 
act  of  indiscretion,  the  effects  of  which  were  left 
as  an  ill-fated  legacy  to  the  little  colony  which  he 
otherwise  nursed  so  well.  Seeking  to  please  his 
Algonquian  neighbors  upon  the  St.  Lawrence,  and 
at  the  time  eager  to  explore  the  country,  the  com- 
mandant, with  two  of  his  men-at-arms,  accom- 
panied (1609)  one  of  their  frequent  war-parties 
against  the  confederated  Iroquois,  who  lived,  for 
the  most  part,  in  New  York  state  and  northeastern 
Pennsylvania.  Meeting  a  hostile  band  of  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  warriors  near  where  Fort  Ticonderoga 
was  afterwards  constructed,  Champlain  and  his 
white  attendants  easily  routed  the  enemy  by  means 
of  fire-arms,  with  which  the  interior  savages  were 
as  yet  unacquainted.^  His  success  in  this  direction 
was,  through  the  unfortunate  importunity  of  his 
allies,  repeated  in  16 10;  but  five  years  later,  when 
he  invaded  the  Iroquois  cantonments  in  the  com- 
pany of  a  large  body  of  Huron,  whose  country  to 
the  east  of  Lake  Huron  he  had  been  visiting  that 
summer,  the  tribesmen  to  the  southeast  of  Lake 
Ontario  were    found   to    have    lost   much  of  their 

*  Cf.  Tyler,  England  in  America  {Am.  Nation,  IV.),  288. 


36  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1649 

fear  for  white  men's  weapons,  and  the  invaders 
retreated  in  some  disorder. 

The  results  were  highly  disastrous  both  to  the 
Huron  and  the  French.  The  former  were  year  by 
year  mercilessly  harried  by  the  bloodthirsty  Iro- 
quois, until  in  1649  they  were  driven  from  their 
homes  and  in  the  frenzy  of  fear  fled  first  to  the 
islands  of  Lake  Huron,  then  to  Mackinac  and  Sault 
Ste.  Marie,  finally  to  the  southern  shores  of  Lake 
Superior,  and  deep  within  the  dark  pine  forests  of 
northern  Wisconsin.  In  the  destruction  of  Huronia, 
several  Jesuit  missionaries  suffered  torture  and 
death. 

As  for  the  squalid  little  French  settlements  at 
Three  Rivers,  Quebec,  and  Tadoussac,  they  soon 
felt  the  wrath  of  the  Iroquois,  who  were  the  fiercest 
and  best -trained  fighters  among  the  savages  of 
North  America.  Almost  annually  the  war-parties 
of  this  dread  foe  raided  the  lands  of  the  king,  not 
infrequently  appearing  in  force  before  the  sharp- 
pointed  palisades  of  New  France,  over  which  were 
often  waged  bloody  battles  for  supremacy.  Fortu- 
nately logs  could  turn  back  a  primitive  enemy  un- 
armed with  cannon;  but  not  infrequently  outlying 
parties  of  Frenchmen  had  sorry  experiences  with  the 
stealthy  foe,  of  whose  approach  through  the  tangled 
forest  they  had  had  no  warning.  Champlain's  clos- 
ing years  were  much  saddened  by  these  merciless 
assaults  which  he  had  unwittingly  invited;  in  the 
decade  after  his  death   the  operations  of   his  sue- 


1665]  ST.    LAWRENCE    VALLEY  37 

cessors  were  largely  hampered  thereby.  Montreal, 
founded  by  religious  enthusiasts  in  1642,  during  its 
earliest  years  served  as  a  buffer  colony,  in  the  di- 
rection of  the  avenging  tribesmen,  and  supped  to 
the  dregs  the  cup  of  border  turmoil. 

Not  only  were  Frenclimen  obliged  to  huddle 
within  their  defences,  but  far  and  near  their  Indian 
allies  were  swept  from  the  earth.  The  Iroquois 
practically  destroyed  the  Algonquian  tribes  between 
Quebec  and  the  Saguenay,  as  well  as  the  Algonkins 
of  the  Ottawa,  the  Huron,  and  the  Petim  and 
Neutrals  of  the  Niagara  district.  The  fur-trade  of 
New  France  was  for  a  long  period  almost  wholly 
destroyed;  English  and  Dutch  rivals  to  the  south 
were  friendly  to  the  Iroquois,  furnished  them  cheap 
goods  and  abundant  fire-arms  and  ammunition,  and 
egged  them  on  in  their  northern  forays;  while  tow- 
ards the  Mississippi,  and  south  of  the  Great  Lakes, 
Iroquois  raiders  terrorized  those  tribes  which  dared 
to  entertain  trade  relations  with  the  French.^ 

In  1646,  however,  the  blood-stained  confederates, 
after  nearly  a  half -century  of  opposition,  consented 
to  a  peace  which  lasted  spasmodically  for  aknost 
twenty  years;  until  in  1665  the  French  government 
found  itself  strong  enough  to  threaten  the  chastise- 
ment of  the  New  York  tribesmen,  and  thereafter  the 
Iroquois  opposition,  while  not  altogether  quelled, 
was  of  a  far  less  threatening  character. 

About  the  same  time  the  government  of  Canada 

*  Cf.  Greene,  Provincial  America  (^Am.  Nation,  VI.),  chap.  vii. 


38  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1643 

underwent  a  fundamental  change,  which  gave  new 
vigor  to  the  attempt  to  penetrate  into  the  unknown 
west.  The  Hundred  Associates  had  agreed,  in  their 
charter,  to  send  four  thousand  colonists  to  Canada 
before  1643,  to  lodge  and  support  them  during  three 
years,  and  then  to  give  them  cleared  lands  for  their 
maintenance;  but  the  vast  expense  attendant  upon 
an  enterprise  of  this  character  was  beyond  the 
ability  of  the  company,  who  had  found  no  profit  in 
any  feature  of  their  undertaking;  therefore,  after 
feeble  attempts  at  immigration,  they  transferred  to 
the  inhabitants  of  Quebec  their  monopoly  of  the 
fur-trade,  with  all  debts  and  other  obligations,  but 
retained  their  seigniorial  rights  as  lords  of  the  soil. 
Finally,  in  1663,  the  associates  willingly  surrendered 
their  charter.  New  France  became  the  property  of 
the  crown,  and  thereby  was  ended  the  era  of  feudal 
tenure  under  the  mastery  of  a  grasping  although 
unsuccessful  commercial  corporation.  Thus,  free- 
dom from  the  control  of  corporate  greed  and  meas- 
urable relief  from  the  Iroquois  horror  came  almost 
contemporaneously.  New  France,  now  over  a  half- 
century  old,  had  at  last  been  given  the  shadow  of 
a  chance. 

So  far  the  rivalry  of  England  had,  after  the  return 
of  Quebec,  been  felt  only  in  Acadia,*  for  the  Iroquois 
acted  as  a  barrier  between  the  contending  powers 
all  along  the  northern  frontier,  both  before  and 
after  the  English  acquisition  of  New  York  in  1664. 

'  See  chap,  ii.,  above. 


1663]  ST.    LAWRENCE    VALLEY  39 

England,  Holland,  and  Sweden  had  all  planted 
their  North  American  settlements  upon  a  rela- 
tively narrow  seaboard,  with  the  Appalachian  range 
lying  for  the  most  part  not  to  exceed  a  htm- 
dred  miles  inland.  The  coast  abounds  in  inden- 
tations —  safe  harbors  and  generous  landlocked 
bays,  into  which  flow  numerous  rivers  of  consider- 
able breadth  and  depth.  By  means  of  these  the 
interior  can  readily  be  explored  as  far  as  the  water- 
falls which  are  formed  by  the  lower  benches  of  the 
mountain  wall;  beyond  this  the  sailing  craft  of  the 
early  European  settlers  could  not  go — the  traveller 
who  would  ascend  farther  by  canoe  must  alight  at 
each  recurring  rapids  or  falls,  his  progress  retarded 
and  his  person  exposed  to  possible  assaults  of  the 
often  hostile  savages  who  lurked  upon  the  bush- 
strewn  banks.  The  forested  peaks  which  fretted  the 
western  sky-line,  while  pygmies  compared  with  the 
Cordilleras  rimming  the  Mississippi  basin  on  the 
farther  west,  at  first  seemed  insurmountable  to  the 
men  of  the  coast.  In  these  altitudes  the  soil  is 
thinner  than  upon  the  alluvial  coast  plain;  more- 
over, beyond  the  mountains  dwelt  fierce  tribes  of 
aborigines  with  whom  the  colonists  were  as  yet 
unwilling  to  cope.  Thus  hemmed  in  by  a  wide  belt 
of  rugged  country,  wherein  nature  was  unkind,  and 
bands  of  warlike  barbarians  held  the  streams  and 
forests,  it  was  natural  that  an  agricultural,  manu- 
facturing, and  seafaring  people  should  as  a  whole 
spread  inland  only  when  pressed  for  room. 


40  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1650 

Among  the  English  colonists,  however,  were  many- 
restless  adventurers  who  sought  new  lands,  fresh 
hunting-grounds,  and  the  uncertain  profits  of  the 
roving  Indian  trade.  As  early  as  1650,  Governor 
Berkeley,  of  Virginia,  made  a  vain  attempt  to  cross 
the  Alleghany  barrier  in  search  of  the  Mississippi, 
of  which  he  had  vaguely  heard  from  Indians.  A 
few  years  later  a  Virginian,  Colonel  Abraham  Wood, 
discovered  (i 654-1 664)  streams  which  poured  into 
the  Ohio  and  the  Mississippi,*  thus  penetrating  the 
Mississippi  basin  several  years  before  the  French 
discovery  by  Jolliet  and  Marquette.^  Later  ex- 
plorers—  Lederer^  (1669,  1670),  Batts*  (1671), 
Howard  and  Sailing^  (1742),  Walker"  (1748,  1750), 
Gist'  (1751),  Finley'  (1752,  1753),  Boone"  (1769), 
George  Washington*"  (1770,  to  the  mouth  of  the 

*Coxe,    Carolana,    120;   Adair,   Am.   Indians,    308;    State   of 
British  Colonies  (1755),   107,   118. 
^  See  chap,  iii.,  below. 
^  Talbot  (trans.) ,  Discoveries  of  John  Lederer. 

*  Beverley,  Virginia;  N .  Y.  Docs.  Rel.  to  Col.  Hist.,  III.,  193- 

197- 

*  Du  Pratz,  Louisiana,  62;  Wynne,  British  Empire  in  America, 
II.,  405;  Expediency  of  Securing  Our  Atnerican  Colonies,  25,  47. 

'  Walker,  Journal,  in  Johnston,  First  Explorations  of  Kentucky. 

"Gist,  Journal  (Johnston's  and  Darlington's  ed.). 

'  Maryland  Gazette,  May  17,  1753;  Filson,  Kentucky  (erroneous 
date);  Pa.  Col.  Records,  V..  570;  "Boone  Papers,"  in  Draper 
MSS. 

'Boone,  "Narrative,"  in  Filson,  Kentucky,  47-54;  Draper 
MSS. 

*°  Washington,  Journal  of  a  Tour  to  the  Ohio,  in  Writings 
(Ford's  ed.),  II.,  285-316;  Collins,  Kentucky,  II.,  460,  notes 
doubtful  evidence,  nowhere  else  confirmed,  of  Washington's 
presence  earlier  than  1770. 


i77o]  ST.    LAWRENCE    VALLEY  41 

Kanawha) — pushing  far  in  advance  of  the  limits 
of  continuous  settlement,  moved  westward  the  con- 
flicting claims  of  Pennsylvania,  Virginia,  and  the 
Carolinas.  But  up  to  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth 
century  these  enterprises  were  sporadic  and  with 
slight  result;  New  France  had  in  her  feeble  way 
long  held  the  vast  basin  of  the  Mississippi  before 
the  men  of  the  English  colonies  seriously  attempted 
any  occupation  of  trans- Alleghany  waters. 

The  stately  flood  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  sweeping 
past  the  cliff  of  Quebec  on  its  journey  to  the  sea, 
annually  brought  down  to  the  little  trading  ham- 
lets of  New  France  fleets  of  birch-bark  canoes, 
laden  with  peltries  and  propelled  by  lusty,  swarthy 
savages  from  the  mysterious  forests  and  plains  of 
the  "upper  country."  Bedizened  with  paint  and 
feathers,  speaking  many  harsh,  guttural  dialects, 
as  cruel  and  crafty  as  they  were  keen  at  a  bargain, 
boastfully  garrulous  of  their  deeds  on  the  war-path 
and  the  hunt,  yet  as  fond  of  amusement  as  children, 
these  strange  people  greatly  excited  the  curiosity 
of  the  mercurial  men  of  France.  Adventurers  were 
eager  to  join  in  the  wild  life  of  the  far-away  camps 
of  the  tribesmen ;  fur- traders  scented  untold  profits 
in  following  these  dusky  hunters  into  the  imknown 
wilderness;  ecclesiastics  foresaw  in  this  heathen 
world  a  rich  harvest  of  souls. 

Explorers,  fur-traders,  missionaries,  soldiers,  ro- 
vers of  every  sort,  and  of  such  the  population  of 
New   France   was   chiefly   composed — for  soil   and 


VOL.     VII.  —  S 


42  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1634 

character  were  unfavorable  for  agriculture,  there 
was  no  manufacturing,  and  thus  far  from  the  sea 
the  fisheries  were  unimportant — found  themselves 
easily  lured  by  the  far  -  stretching  and  ramified 
waterways  which  led  from  and  to  the  great  north- 
west. The  colony  was  no  sooner  planted  than 
Champlain,  a  typical  adventurer  of  his  time,  set 
the  fashion  of  exploration.  We  have  seen  that  the 
founder  of  New  France  personally  reached  the 
shores  of  Lake  Huron,  and  that  in  1634 — the  year 
before  his  death — his  agent,  Jean  Nicolet,  was  treat- 
ing with  Wisconsin  tribes  upon  the  chief  north- 
western gateway  to  the  Mississippi,  which  stream, 
however,  he  does  not  appear  to  have  visited.* 

The  handful  of  colonists  soon  became  widely  dif- 
fused by  means  of  these  enticing  wilderness  paths. 
By  the  time  New  France  was  fifty  years  old,  its 
population  of  three  thousand  souls  was  scattered 
all  the  way  from  far-eastern  Acadia  to  the  lonely 
trading-camps  of  the  explorers  Radisson  and  Groseil- 
liers,  in  the  wilds  of  central  Wisconsin  (165 4- 1655) 
— a  stretch  of  over  fifteen  hundred  miles  along  the 
great  glacial  groove  of  the  St.  Lawrence  drainage 
system.  Governor  d'Avaugour  wrote  from  Quebec 
in  1661:  "As  regards  .  .  .  the  settlements,  they  are 
scattered  in  a  still  more  unsocial  fashion  than  are 
the  savages  themselves  .  .  .  less  than  three  thousand 
souls  residing  over  an  extent  of  eighty  leagues  .  .  , 
for  a  distance  of  a  league  and  a  half  aroiind  Queba 

'  See  chap,  i.,  above. 


i66i]  ST.    LAWRENCE    VALLEY  43 

there  is  siifficient  to  support  a  hundred  thousand 
souls."  ' 

That  the  French  at  first  made  much  larger  claims 
to  the  interior  of  North  America  than  did  the  Eng- 
lish, was  due  less  to  their  undoubted  avarice  for 
territory  than  to  their  early  enterprise  as  explorers. 
They  held  tenaciously  to  the  far-reaching  theory, 
in  that  day  by  no  means  singular  to  France,  that 
if  one  of  their  compatriots  was  the  first  white  to 
reach  strange  waters,  the  king  of  France  was  there- 
by entitled  to  the  lands  drained  by  all  streams 
which  might  directly  or  indirectly  flow  into  or  from 
the  waters  thus  discovered.  This  assumption  ig- 
nored the  presence  of  the  aboriginal  inhabitants,  who 
had  not  sought  to  be  discovered ;  but  as  they  were 
ignorant  of  European  civilization  and  its  accom- 
panying theology,  it  was  taken  for  granted  that  they 
possessed  no  rights  which  a  Christian  need  consider. 

By  means  of  formal  proclamations  of  "taking 
possession,"  accompanied  by  the  burial  of  engraved 
leaden  plates  upon  the  banks  of  rivers  and  lakes, 
and  the  rearing  of  posts  bearing  metallic  insignia 
of  France,  amid  religious  and  civil  ceremonial,  her 
adventurers  rapidly  pushed  her  claims  through  the 
heart  of  the  continent.  They  stoutly  and  honestly 
held,  according  to  the  tenets  of  their  time,  that  such 
discovery  and  rites,  backed  as  they  soon  were  by  a 
line  of  water-side  posts,  gave  them  unquestionable 
jurisdiction  over  the  vast  drainage  systems  of  the 

*  Thv/aites,  Jesuit  Relations,  XL VI.,  151. 


44  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1667 

St.  Lawrence,  the  Mississippi,  the  Winnipeg,  and 
the  Saskatchewan. 

Holding  such  claims  to  be  the  logical  result  of 
exploration,  partially  occupying  the  country  with 
their  fur-trade  and  military  stations,  and  enjoying 
therein  a  widely  diffused  commerce  with  the  na- 
tives, with  the  majority  of  whom  they  were  on 
kindly  terms.  Frenchmen  long  felt  confident  that 
the  English  colonists,  thus  far  giving  small  evidence 
of  land  hunger,  might  permanently  be  restricted  to 
the  narrow  eastern  slope  of  the  Appalachians;  and 
perhaps  to  such  fur-bearing  littoral  in  the  extensive 
north  as  might  be  controlled  by  the  powerful  but 
unadventurous  "Governor  and  Company  of  Ad- 
venturers of  England  trading  into  Hudson  Bay." 

The  establishment  in  London  (1667)  of  the  Hud- 
son's Bay  Company,  as  the  fruit  of  the  defection 
from  French  interests  of  two  of  their  most  noted 
explorers  in  the  region  of  the  upper  Great  Lakes — 
the  sieurs  Radisson  and  Groseilliers  * — proved  the 
opening  wedge  of  that  English  commercial  rivalry 
which  was  ultimately  to  shatter  New  France.  The 
charter  granted  (1670)  by  King  Charles  II.  to  this 
notable  company,  upon  whose  rolls  were  Prince 
Rupert,  the  Duke  of  York,  and  other  court  favorites, 
quite  after  the  fashion  of  the  most  exorbitant  French 
claims,  bestowed  the  entire  region  drained  by  waters 
flowing  directly  or  indirectly  into  and  from  Hud- 

'  See  Scull  (ed),  Radisson' s  Voyages;  Wis.  Hist.  Collections, 
XL,  64-69;  Campbell,  Radisson  and  Groseilliers. 


1671]  ST.    LAWRENCE    VALLEY  45 

son  Bay;  to  this  enormous  drainage  basin  being 
later  added  large  grants  upon  the  Arctic  and  Pacific 
slopes.  Over  a  wilderness  as  vast  as  Europe,  the 
company  were  to  enjoy  the  "  whole,  entire,  and  only 
liberty,  use  and  privilege  of  Trading  and  Traffick- 
ing," with  absolute  powers  both  as  to  civil  and 
military  affairs,  including  even  the  making  of  war 
or  peace  with  other  peoples.^ 

While  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  was  deliber- 
ately settling  itself  upon  the  lonely  shores  of  the 
bay,  and  from  the  first  enjoying  large  profits,  the 
French  were  making  brave  strides  in  the  interior 
to  the  far  south.  La  Salle,  with  his  ambitious  fur- 
trading  schemes,  was  reaching  out  towards  Louisiana ; 
with  much  official  display.  Saint  Lusson  was  taking 
possession  at  Sault  Ste.  Marie  of  the  upper  Great 
Lakes  (1671);  Jesuit  missions  for  the  Christianizing 
of  the  savages  were  being  opened  along  the  shores 
of  these  inland  seas;  Jolliet  and  Marquette  were  re- 
discovering the  Mississippi  by  way  of  the  Fox- 
Wisconsin  route;  Perrot,  Duluth,  and  their  fellows 
were  exploiting  the  forest  trade,  and  by  turns 
wheedling  and  bullying  the  tribesmen  as  occasion 
demanded;  the  lilies  of  France  were  surmounting 
many  a  log  stockade — half  fort,  half  trading-station ; 
and  on  every  hand  it  appeared  likely  that  French 
overlordship  had  come  to  stay. 

The   French  were  not   long  in   discovering  that 

*  Full  text  of  charter  in  Mills,  Statutes,  Documents ,  and  Papers 
. .  .  respecting  .  .  .  Boundaries  of  the  Province  of  Ontario,  29-37. 


46  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1671 

the   great   English   company   of   the   north   was   a 
dangerous   rival   in  the  fur -trade.     "These    smug 
ancient  gentlemen,"  as  Lord  Bolingbroke  once  con- 
temptuously called  them,  were  not  keen   after   ex- 
ploration of  their  sub-Arctic  domain.     Their  shop- 
keeping  servants  at  first  showed  a  curious  reluctance 
to  venture  farther  inland  than  could  be  seen  from 
the  walls  of  their  stockaded  "  factories  "—although 
in  later  years  there  were  not  lacking  among  them 
adventurers  whose  names  stand  high  on  the  roll  of 
American  explorers.     But  having  the  freedom  of  the 
seas,  they  could  cheaply  import  to  the  gates  of  their 
bayside   forts    a    high   grade    of   goods.     Although 
merciless  in  bargaining  with  the  natives,  they  were 
able  to  offer  the  latter  better  prices  and  merchandise 
than  could  be  found  at  the  posts  of  the  monopoly- 
ridden  French.     The  result  was  that  the  Quebec  and 
Montreal  merchants,  who  were   operating  through 
Mackinac,    Sault    Ste.    Marie,    and    Lake    Superior 
stations,  found  the  Indians,  who  cared  little  for  the 
time  element,  often  willing  to  travel  long  distances 
to  reach  the  better  customer.     Moreover,  such  were 
the  difficulties  of  transportation  met  by  the  French 
of  the  interior,  with  their  long  and  arduous  portages, 
that   they   purchased   from    the   natives   only   the 
lighter  and  more  expensive  furs,   such  as  beaver, 
marten,  and   fox;  while   the  English,  able  to  load 
pelts  upon  sea-going  vessels  at  the  wharves  of  their 
Hudson  Bay  posts,  were  customers  for  every  variety 
of  skins.     Some  idea  of  the  profits  of  the  trade,  as 


1713]  ST.    LAWRENCE    VALLEY  47 

reaped  in  these  earlier  years  of  the  Hudson's  Bay- 
Company,  may  be  obtained  when  we  read  that  in 
1676  the  value  of  the  merchandise  which  they  ex- 
ported to  their  agents  at  the  bay,  for  purposes  of 
barter,  was  but  ;j^65o  sterling,  while  that  of  the  furs 
imported  into  England  from  the  same  source  was 
nearly  ;^  19, 000.* 

Serious  rivalry  began  in  1671,  when  the  Jesuit 
Albanel  was  sent  overland  from  Canada  to  report 
upon  the  English  trade  and  make  commercial  over- 
tures to  their  customers.  Thereafter  much  uneasi- 
ness was  displayed  by  the  company,  for  it  was 
foimd  that  the  French  were  actively  at  work  along 
the  southeastern  fringes  of  their  territory,  drawing 
off  customers  from  the  bay  factories  and  prejudicing 
the  minds  of  the  natives. 

In  the  summer  of  1685  a  party  of  eighty  bush- 
rangers under  Chevalier  de  Troyes  and  the  Sieurs 
dTberville,  de  Sainte  Hel6ne,  and  de  Marincourt — 
sons  of  the  Charles  le  Moyne  of  whom  we  shall 
presently  hear ' — approaching  James's  Bay  by  way 
of  the  Ottawa  River,  captured  Moose  factory  and 
Fort  Albany.*  Until  the  treaty  of  Utrecht  (17 13), 
nearly  every  season  witnessed  picturesque  armed  con- 
tests between  French  and  English  upon  the  dreary 
shores  of  Hudson  Bay.  Intermittently,  the  French 
were    during    several    seasons    in   almost  complete 

*Willson,  The  Great  Company,  173. 

2  See  chap,  v.,  below. 

'  Bryce,  Htidson's  Bay  Company,  51. 


48  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1715 

mastery  of  the  situation.  But  their  trade  in  this 
district  proved  to  be  far  from  profitable.  France 
was  weak  in  sea-power;  the  vessels  of  her  bay 
traders  were  subject  to  pillage  and  destruction  by 
the  all  -  conquering  navy  of  Britain.*  Even  had 
communication  with  France  been  uninterrupted, 
the  traders  were  victims  of  the  commercial  monopoly 
which  fettered  New  France ;  they  could  not  meet  the 
prices  for  furs  which  had  been  established  among  the 
seaboard  savages  by  the  British.  At  Utrecht,  in 
1 7 13,  it  was  agreed  that  the  bay  should  remain  the 
property  of  its  first  exploiters.  The  "Old  Lady  of 
Fenchurch  Street,"  as  the  great  company  was  deri- 
sively termed  by  hostile  critics,  once  more  assumed 
control  —  greatly  weakened,  however,  through  long 
years  of  adversity. 

'  Bryce,  Hudson's  Bay  Company,  52-60. 


CHAPTER    IV 

DISCOVERY    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI 
(1634-1687) 

AT  the  head  of  the  east  and  west  trough  of  the 
i\  St.  Lawrence  Valley  the  French  discovered  an- 
other low  area,  extending  transversely  north  and 
south,  practically  between  the  Arctic  Ocean  and  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico,  with  the  Mississippi  flowing  through 
the  greater  part  of  its  enormous  length.  The  basin 
of  the  Mississippi  is  separated  from  that  of  the  St. 
Lawrence  by  a  low  and  narrow  water-shed  running 
closely  parallel  to  the  Great  Lakes,  approached  from 
the  latter  by  short  rivers  easily  ascended,  and 
readily  crossed  by  portage  paths  varying  in  length 
from  one  mile  to  ten ;  at  the  end  of  the  carries  were 
streams,  for  the  most  part  flowing  leisurely  into 
larger  rivers  emptying  either  directly  or  indirectly 
into  the  Mississippi.  From  Lake  Erie,  the  west- 
going  travellerb  would  first  reach  a  route  to  the 
waters  of  the  Ohio  by  way  of  Lake  Chautauqua; 
next,  from  the  site  of  the  present  Erie  (the  Presq'isle 
of  the  French),  could  be  reached  French  Creek, 
which  flows  into  the  Alleghany,  one  of  the  two 
forks  of  the  upper  Ohio;  other  portages  led  over  to 

49 


50  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1634 

the  Beaver,  the  Muskingum,  the  Scioto,  and  the 
Wabash.  From  Lake  Michigan,  the  river  St.  Jo- 
seph might  be  ascended  to  its  source,  and  a  carry- 
ing trail  found,  by  which  the  Maumee  could  be 
reached  and  descended  to  Lake  Erie,  thus  cutting 
across  the  base  of  the  great  Michigan  peninsula;  or, 
at  the  great  bend  of  St.  Joseph  (South  Bend,  Indi- 
ana), a  marshy  trail  led  over  to  the  Kankakee, 
which  pours  into  the  Illinois,  itself  an  affluent  of 
the  Mississippi.  At  Chicago  River  was  another 
trade  -  route  over  a  narrow,  swampy  divide,  by 
which  could  be  reached  the  Des  Plaines,  a  tributary 
of  the  Illinois,  The  favorite  path  of  all,  however, 
was  that  by  which  Lake  Michigan  was  connected 
with  the  Mississippi  by  ascending  Green  Bay  and 
the  Fox  River,  crossing  a  boggy  plain  of  a  mile  and  a 
half  in  central  Wisconsin  (at  the  modem  city  of 
Portage),  and  descending  the  broad,  island-strewn 
Wisconsin  River,  which  is  edged  by  picturesque 
bluffs  alternating  with  rich  alluvial  bottoms. 

The  portage  routes  between  Lake  Superior  and 
the  Mississippi  were  of  great  importance  in  the  con- 
trol of  that  inland  sea,  but  were  seldom  used  in 
ordinary  travel  between  the  extremities  of  New 
France.  The  Bois  Brul6  is  a  narrow  stream  in 
which  rapids  and  pools  succeed  each  other  through 
the  heart  of  the  overhanging  forest ;  a  carrying  path 
of  a  mile  and  a  half  leads  to  the  often  turbulent  St. 
Croix,  wherein  cataracts  and  billowy  rapids  neces- 
sitate several  bank-side  portages.     At  the  southwest 


168;]  THE    MISSISSIPPI  51 

extremity  of  Lake  Superior  the  foaming  St.  Louis 
was  ascended  to  a  trail  by  which  was  reached  the 
lake-strewn  region  of  the  Mille  Lacs,  whence  the 
initial  waters  of  the  Mississippi  peacefully  emerge. 
Ascending  Pigeon  River,  on  the  present  boundary- 
line  between  Minnesota  and  Manitoba,  it  was  pos- 
sible by  means  of  a  score  or  two  of  portages  and 
short-cuts,  through  a  vast  net-work  of  lakes  and 
divergent  streams,  to  reach  Lake  Winnipeg;  and, 
beyond  that,  the  inlets  to  Hudson  Bay  and  the  far- 
stretching  systems  of  the  Saskatchewan  and  the 
Assiniboin,  which  touch  the  feet  of  the  Canadian 
Rockies  and  lead  to  other  portages  connecting  with 
waters  flowing  into  the  Arctic  and  Pacific  oceans. 

So  low  is  the  height  of  land  between  the  divergent 
drainage  systems  that  empty  respectively  into  the 
Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  and  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  that 
at  some  points — notably  the  Chicago  and  the  Fox- 
Wisconsin  routes — spring  floods  occasionally  enabled 
traders  and  explorers  to  propel  their  canoes  and 
bateaux  from  one  system  to  the  other  without  a 
carry,  the  waters  of  the  upper  Wisconsin  flowing 
over  into  the  Fox,  across  the  portage  plain,  and 
those  of  Lake  Michigan  setting  southward  towards 
the  Mississippi,  through  the  Chicago  River,  which 
was,  in  an  earlier  geological  period,  an  outlet  of 
Lake  Michigan  instead  of  an  inlet. 

It  did  not  take  French  explorers  long  to  realize 
that  these  drainage  troughs  furnished  means  for  the 
trade  and  military  control  of  the  vast  interior  of 


52  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1615 

the  continent,  between  the  Alleghanies  and  the 
Rockies,  from  the  frozen  lands  of  the  far  north  to 
the  sub-tropical  region  bordering  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 
French  progress  up  the  St.  Lawrence  system  was 
throughout  much  of  the  eighteenth  century  inter- 
rupted by  the  hostility  of  the  Iroquois,  who  held 
the  lands  to  the  south  of  Lake  Ontario  and  along 
the  Niagara  portage.  Champlain's  early  assault 
upon  these,*  the  most  warlike  of  American  savages, 
had  engendered  a  hatred  which  would  not  down, 
and  the  manifestation  of  which  was  only  ultimately 
abated  by  growing  powers  of  reprisal  on  the  part 
of  New  France, 

Champlain  and  several  succeeding  generations 
of  explorers  found  Lake  Huron  by  laboriously 
stemming  the  numerous  rapids  of  Ottawa  River — 
the  original  outlet  of  that  inland  sea,  but  a  slight 
geological  upheaval  had  created  a  rim,  which  there- 
after separated  the  waters  of  river  and  lake.  Thus 
Huron  was,  by  this  direct  but  difficult  route,  the 
first  great  lake  to  be  discovered  (16 15);  Ontario 
(161 5),  Superior  (16 16),  and  Michigan  (1634),  with 
their  respective  portage  routes  to  the  Mississippi, 
being  next  unveiled  in  the  order  named.  Erie, 
known  to  the  French  as  early  as  1640,  was  not 
navigated  by  them  until  1669,  save  by  occasional 
unlicensed  traders,  who  were  surreptitiously  bring- 
ing furs  to  the  markets  of  the  English  and  the  Dutch 
allies  of  the  Iroquois ;  and  there  is  a  possibility  that 

'See  chap,  iii.,  above. 


i7oi]  THE    MISSISSIPPI  53 

in  this  early  period  Englishmen  and  Dutchmen 
themselves  may  have  threaded  its  waters  on  a  like 
errand,  although  the  establishment  of  a  French  fort 
at  Niagara  (1678)  did  much  to  hamper  this  traffic/ 
It  was  not  until  the  establishment  of  Detroit  (1701) 
that  the  northwest  could  safely  and  regularly  be 
reached  by  means  of  the  Great  Lakes;  and  even 
later  the  Ottawa  River  route  was  occasionally  used 
by  French  traders  and  explorers  during  uprisings 
of  the  New  York  Indians,  when  the  passage  of  the 
Niagara  portage  was  attended  with  danger. 

From  the  time  of  the  first  European  landfall  in 
North  America,  the  discovery  of  a  transcontinental 
waterway  that  should  shorten  the  route  to  China  and 
India  had  been  keenly  desired  by  Spain,  France, 
and  England  in  turn.  That  such  existed  was  for 
over  two  centuries  an  article  of  faith  with  European 
geographers,  and  American  annals  abound  in  rec- 
ords of  attempts  to  find  it.  Navigators  of  different 
nations  carefully  examined  every  inlet  along  both 
coasts,  from  the  south  upward,  and  explorers  of 
the  interior  were  led  hither  and  yon  by  Indian 
traditions  of  such  waterw^ays — for  the  wily  Ameri- 
can savage,  seeking  either  to  please  his  unwelcome 
guest  or  to  induce  him  to  move  on,  was  wont  stout- 
ly to  assert  that  somewhere  beyond  the  horizon  lay 
the  very  thing  the  stranger  sought,  be  it  precious 
metals  or  a  transcontinental  passage.  Gradually, 
after  centuries  of  endeavor,  the  wished-for  water- 

^N.  Y.  Docs.  Rel.  to  Col.  Hist.,  IX.,  289. 


54  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1519 

way  was  moved  northward  upon  the  maps,  until  at 
last  the  fabled  "Northwest  Passage"  came  to  be 
relegated  to  the  impenetrable  Arctic. 

Very  early  in  the  history  of  New  France,  knowl- 
edge of  the  Mississippi  reached  Quebec.  Indian  re- 
ports obscurely  spoke  of  it  as  "a  great  water," 
emptying  into  some  greater  sea,  thus  leading  the 
French  at  first  to  suppose  that  it  was  either  the 
Pacific  (or  South  Sea)  itself,  or  in  direct  communi- 
cation with  that  ocean.  It  is  quite  improbable  that 
any  one  tribe  possessed  complete  information  re- 
garding the  entire  river,  in  advance  of  white  men's 
discovery  and  exploration.  Certain  stretches  were, 
of  course,  well  known  to  the  bands  dwelling  along 
those  portions  of  its  banks ;  and  to  some  extent  the 
lower  reaches  of  its  affluents  were  known  to  them — 
but  no  doubt  superstitious  fear,  jealousy  of  neigh- 
boring tribes,  and  absence  of  that  curiosity  which 
impels  civilized  man  to  exploration,  combined  to 
keep  them  within  their  own  bailiwicks.  Traditions 
and  theories  were  passed  on  from  one  tribe  to  an- 
other; but  the  result  was  only  vague,  purblind 
knowledge  based  upon  no  definite  conception  of  the 
geography  of  the  continent.  Thus  the  first  white 
explorers — fur-traders  and  missionaries — often  found 
such  aboriginal  information  sadly  perplexing.* 

The  lower  reaches  of  the  Mississippi  were  early 
visited  by  roving  Spanish  adventurers  from  Mexico 

'Elaborated  in  Thwaites,  "The  Great  River,"  in  TPie  World 
To-day,  VI.,  184-192,  383-391. 


1665]  THE    MISSISSIPPI  55 

and  Florida.  Alonzo  de  Pineda  is  credited  with  the 
honor  of  first  exploring  the  great  river  (15 19)  and 
calling  it  Rio  del  Espiritu-Santo ;  Pamfilo  de  Nar- 
vaez  met  his  death  in  the  delta  nine  years  later; 
Hernando  de  Soto  was  buried  in  its  waters  in  1542. 
But  from  these  adventures  nothing  resulted  beyond 
a  shadowy  claim  on  behalf  of  Spain/ 

Certain  distorted  information  had  come  to  Cham- 
plain  concerning  the  characteristics  and  name  of 
the  Indians  at  the  mouth  of  Fox  River,  in  Wiscon- 
sin—  which,  we  have  seen,  was  one  of  the  chief 
gateways  to  the  Mississippi — leading  him  to  sup- 
pose that  these  people  might  be  Chinamen,  and 
Green  Bay  the  entrance  of  the  much-sought  route 
to  Cathay.^  His  agent,  the  daring  Nicolet,  was 
much  disappointed  to  find  there  only  breech- 
clouted  Winnebagoes,  an  expelled  ofTshoot  of  the 
Dakota  of  the  w^est.  His  long  and  difficult  jour- 
ney (1634) — the  most  important  exploration  thus 
far  imdertaken  for  New  France — ^brought  him  lit- 
tle nearer  to  a  solution  of  the  great  geographical 
problem. 

It  is  possible  that  twenty  years  later  (1655), 
Radisson  and  Groseilliers — "anxious  to  be  knowne 
with  the  remotest  people"  and  "to  discover  the 
great  lakes  that  they  had  heard  the  wild  men  speak 


'  Bourne,  Spain  in  America  {Am.  Nation,  III.),  chap.  x. 

2  Parkman,  La  Salle,  x^:v.i.,  xxiv.;  Butterfield,  Discovery  of  the 
Northwest,  37-39,  58,  59;  Hebberd,  Wisconsin  under  Dominion 
cf  France,  14-16. 


S6  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1654 

of" — were  upon  the  "great  river"  which  flowed 
southward  to  the  Spaniards;  but  Radisson's  journal, 
written  years  after  their  visit  to  Wisconsin,  has  no 
map  and  is  couched  in  vague  terms.  Only  the 
year  before  (1654),  a  writer  in  the  Jesuit  Relations 
averred  that  the  sea  which  separates  America  from 
Asia  was  but  nine  days'  journey  from  Green  Bay — 
about  the  time  necessary  for  a  canoe  trip  from 
Green  Bay  to  the  Mississippi  by  the  route  of  the 
Fox  and  Wisconsin  rivers.^ 

At  the  Jesuit  mission  on  Chequamegon  Bay  of 
Lake  Superior,  Father  Claude  Allouez  obtained  from 
the  Indians  (1665)  some  disjointed  data  concerning 
the  great  south-flowing  waterway.^  His  successor. 
Father  Jacques  Marquette  (1669),  became  especial- 
ly interested  in  the  ]\Iississippi,  the  hazy  reports 
which  he  received  from  his  naked  parishioners  but 
increasing  his  curiosity  and  w^hetting  his  desire  to 
Christianize  the  savages  along  its  banks.  Four 
years  later  (1673),  in  the  company  of  an  official  ex- 
plorer, Louis  Jolliet,  he  ascended  the  Fox  and  made 
an  easy  portage  to  the  Wisconsin,  at  whose  mcuth 
they  foimd  the  Mississippi  (June  17).'  When  they 
started  from  the  Jesuit  mission  at  Mackinac  Straits, 
the  travellers  were  confident  that  the  river  either 
emptied  into  the  South  Sea  (Pacific)  or  coursed 
southeastward  to  the  Atlantic ;  but  by  the  time  the 
mouth  of  the  Arkansas  was  reached,  whence  they 

»Thwaites,  Jesuit  Relations,  XLI.,  185.  =  Ihid.,  LI.,  53. 

^bid.,  LIX.,  86-163. 


1674]  THE    MISSISSIPPI  57 

returned  northward,  it  was  definitely  learned  from 
tribesmen  of  the  lower  reaches  that  the  broad  flood 
poured  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  and  not  into  either 
ocean. 

The  long-sought  transcontinental  waterway,  east 
and  west,  could  not,  therefore,  be  in  this  direction. 
It  was,  however,  now  evident  that  New  France 
possessed,  for  the  light  and  shallow  river  craft  of 
that  day,  a  practically  continuous  waterway  from 
the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico, 
through  the  heart  of  the  continent.  Bark  canoes 
could  readily  penetrate  into  the  most  far-reaching 
waters,  sailing-vessels  could  plough  the  lakes,  while 
a  chain  of  little  bank-side  forts  of  logs  might  over- 
awe the  Indians,  monopolize  the  fur -trade  of  the 
vast  interior,  and  probably  confine  the  English  to 
the  Atlantic  coast. 

Marquette  remaining  among  the  western  savages, 
Jolliet  had  hurried  back  to  Quebec  with  the  news 
of  their  discovery.  Maps  and  other  papers  were 
lost  in  the  wreck  of  his  canoe  in  Lachine  Rapids, 
near  Montreal,^  but  his  verbal  report  greatly  ex- 
cited the  colony.  Among  those  who  recognized 
the  possibilities  of  this  vast  extension  of  the  bounds 
of  New  France,  with  an  ice-free  port  upon  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico,  were  the  bold  and  sturdy  Governor 
Frontenac  and  his  afterwards  famous  protege, 
Robert  Cavelier,  known  to  history  as  the  Sieur  de 
la  Salle. 

^  Thwaites,  Jesuit  Relations,  L.,  ^22;  LVIIL,  93,  109;  LIX.,89 


S8  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1643 

Bom  of  a  wealthy  Rouen  family,  in  1643,  La 
Salle  became  in  his  youth  a  Jesuit  novice,  and  thus 
was  legally  debarred  from  inheriting  his  father's 
fortune.  Of  an  imaginative,  daring,  and  ambitious 
mind,  he  appears  to  have  fretted  under  monastic  re- 
straint, and  in  his  twenty-third  or  twenty-fourth 
year  to  have  left  the  order,  wherein  it  appears  that 
he  had  taken  the  three  requisite  vows,  served  as  a 
teacher,  and  been  known  as  Frere  Robert  Ignace.* 
Although  parting  on  good  terms  with  his  brethren, 
in  later  years  he  became  a  fierce  opponent  of  the 
Jesuit  missionaries  in  Canada,  chiefly  because  his 
vast  fur-trade  projects,  with  the  inevitable  traffic 
in  brandy,  were  regarded  by  them  as  tending  to 
demoralize  the  Indians,  and  his  proud  spirit  could 
brook  no  opposition. 

Arriving  in  Canada  in  1666,  La  Salle  found  here 
an  ample  field  for  his  adventurous  nature.  He  at 
once  started  upon  a  careful  study  of  Indian  methods 
and  languages,  and  soon  became  a  recognized  ex- 
pert therein,  freely  confided  in  by  Frontenac,  a 
man  of  kindlier  character  but  of  a  like  lofty  am- 
bition. It  is  known  that  during  these  early  years 
of  his  Canadian  experiences  La  Salle  was  a  wide 
traveller.  He  was  much  with  the  Iroquois,  both 
in  their  own  country  and  upon  hunting  trips  on 
the  Ottawa;  and  the  claim  is  made  that,  probably 
in  1 67 1,  he  was  first  of  white  men  at  the  Falls  of 
the    Ohio    (Louisville) — indeed,    that    about    that 

^  Thwahes,  Jesuit  Relations.  LX.,  319,  320. 


i675]  THE    MISSISSIPPI  59 

time,  prior  to  JoUiet's  tour,  he  actually  discovered 
the  Mississippi;  but  these  eariy  exploits  are  not 
proven,  and  there  is  strong  ground  for  doubting 
them.^ 

When,  in  1672,  Frontenac  conceived  the  idea  of 
erecting  a  fort  on  Lake  Ontario,  to  intercept  Indian 
trade  which  might  otherwise  be  deflected  to  the 
English  at  Albany,  and  with  a  view  also  of  carrying 
the  trade  nearer  to  its  forest  customers,  he  selected 
La  Salle  as  its  commandant.  Fort  Frontenac  was 
accordingly  erected  (1673)  on  the  site  of  the  present 
Canadian  town  of  Kingston,  at  the  outlet  of  Lake 
Ontario. 

The  following  year  (1674)  La  SaUe,  burning  with 
plans  for  trade  and  discovery  towards  the  Mississippi, 
whence  JolUet  had  just  returned,  went  to  France, 
endorsed  to  the  king  by  the  governor,  and  secured 
from  his  sovereign  the  seigniory  of  Frontenac,  on 
condition  that  the  fort  should  be  reconstructed  of 
masonry  and  thereafter  be  maintained  at  his  charge. 
In  the  Slimmer  of  1675,  now  a  member  of  the  Cana- 
dian noblesse,  he  returned  to  New  France,  two  of 
his  fellow-passengers  being  men  with  whom  his 
name  was  thenceforth  to  be  indissolubly  connected 
— Frangois-Xavier  de  Laval-Montmorency,  the  first 
bishop  of  Quebec,  and  Father  Louis  Hennepin,  a 
Recollect  friar,  in  cowl  and  sandals,  whose  insatiable 
desire  to  achieve  adventures  had  caused  his  superi- 

^  See  arguments  in  Parkman,  La  Salle,  22-27;  and  documents 
in  Margry,  Decouvertes,  I.,  87,  330,  436. 


6o  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1676 

ors  to  despatch  this  f  rocked  worldling  as  a  missionary 
to  the  wilds  of  America/ 

In  1676  we  find  La  Salle  developing  Fort  Fron- 
tenac  as  a  trading  station,  founding  a  settlement 
aroimd  its  stout  walls,  introducing  cattle  to  the  dis- 
trict, building  vessels  for  trading  upon  the  lake, 
and  spending  thirty-five  thousand  livres  on  his 
costly  although  as  yet  somewhat  unprofitable  enter- 
prise. The  next  year  he  was  again  in  France — 
one  marvels  at  the  frequency  with  which  the  great 
traders  of  New  France  crossed  the  ocean,  despite 
the  weary  slowness  of  their  storm-buffeted  tubs  of 
vessels;  also  at  their  tedious  and  almost  annual 
visits  in  laboriously  propelled  canoes  from  far- 
distant  points  in  the  interior  to  the  commercial 
centres  on  the  lower  St.  Lawrence.  This  time  he 
presented  to  the  court  a  memorial  setting  forth  the 
advantage  of  Fort  Frontenac  as  a  base  for  far- 
western  trade,  and  the  undoubted  profits  of  a 
traffic  in  buffalo  wool  and  skins  towards  the  Missis- 
sippi Valley.  A  patent  was  granted  him  to  build 
forts  in  that  wonderful  land,  "  through  which  would 
seem  that  a  passage  to  Mexico  can  be  found";  but 
he  must  not  involve  the  crown  in  any  expense — 
French  explorers  were  then  expected  to  pay  their 
way  out  of  a  monopoly  of  the  fur  -  trade  in  new 
regions — nor  should  he  trade  with  tribes  already 
regularly  trafficking  direct  with  Montreal. 

'  For  life  and  characterization  of  Hennepin,   see   Thwaites, 
Hennepin's  New  Discovery,  Introd. 


1678]  THE    MISSISSIPPI  61 

Even  better  than  a  patent  was  his  acquisition  of 
a  lieutenant,  in  Henri  de  Tonty,  a  young  ItaHan 
soldier  of  fortune  who  had  served  as  an  officer  in 
the  French  army,  but  lost  his  right  hand  at  the 
battle  of  Libisso.  La  Salle  found  in  Tonty  a  nature 
as  bold  and  adventurous  as  his  own,  and  possessing 
that  tact  and  kindliness  in  which  he  himself  was 
conspicuously  lacking.  La  Salle  had  a  cold,  hard, 
domineering  manner,  and  made  few  friends;  it  is, 
however,  highly  creditable  to  him  that  among  these 
were  such  men  as  Frontenac  and  Tonty/  The 
seignior  and  his  lieutenant  arrived  at  Quebec  in 
September,  1678,  equipped  with  anchors,  cordage, 
sails,  and  other  supplies  for  a  vessel  to  be  built  above 
Niagara  for  fur -trading  on  the  upper  lakes.  In 
the  following  January  they  arrived  at  the  falls,  of 
their  company  being  the  Recollect  Fathers  Hen- 
nepin, Ribourde,  and  Membre — for  missionaries  to 
the  Indians  must  needs  accompany  most  exploring 
expeditions  in  New  France,  and  La  Salle  would 
have  no  Jesuit  in  his  train. 

While  a  block-house  was  being  erected  at  the  out- 
let of  Niagara  River,  and  their  vessel,  the  Griffon — 
in  allusion  to  the  two  griffins  on  La  Salle's  coat  of 
arms — was  being  constructed  at  the  mouth  of 
Cayuga  Creek,  above  the  cataract,  the  leader  and 
a  small  party  returned  to  Fort  Frontenac,  mostly 
overland  through  the  Iroquois  country.     The  Grif- 

'  Legler,  "Henri  de  Tonty,"  in  Parknian  Club  Papers,  I., 
37-57- 


62  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1679 

fon,  a  vessel  of  fifty  tons  burden  and  bearing  five 
guns,  set  sail  on  August  7,  1679,  carrying  the  re- 
united party,  and  twenty  days  later  cast  anchor 
off  Point  Ignace,  on  the  Straits  of  Mackinac,  where 
was  the  Jesuit  mission  from  which  Jolliet  and  Mar- 
quette had  departed  on  their  voyage  six  years  be- 
fore. 

For  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  past,  since  the 
days  of  Radisson  and  GroseiUiers,  independent 
French  traders  {coureurs  de  bois)  and  black-robed 
Jesuit  missionaries,  particularly  the  former,  had 
roamed  quite  freely  through  the  region  of  the  up- 
per lakes,  and  very  likely  the  upper  reaches  of  the 
Mississippi.  Some  of  these  traders  were  at  Mack- 
inac when  the  Griffon  arrived;  and  with  them 
several  men  whom  La  Salle  had  sent  up  with  goods 
in  advance  to  barter  for  a  cargo  of  furs.  The 
leader  found  that  his  agents  had  been  corrupted  by 
the  western  itinerants,  who  looked  askance  at  these 
wholesale  and  organized  methods  of  trade,  thinking 
that  they  spelled  ruin  to  their  calling.  La  Salle 
arbitrarily  arrested  the  malecontents,  who  were 
poisoning  the  minds  of  the  tribesmen  against  him 
and  plotting  his  disaster;  he  also  sent  a  detail  to 
quiet  another  group  of  critics  quartered  at  the 
neighboring  Sault  Ste.  Marie. 

The  Griffon  thence  proceeded  to  Green  Bay, 
where  a  rich  store  of  peltries  awaited  her,  amassed 
by  those  of  the  seignior's  buyers  who  had  remained 
loyal.     The  Ottawa,  hereabout,  being  a  tribe  that 


i68o]  THE    MISSISSIPPI  63 

annually  carried  furs  direct  to  Montreal,  dealings 
with  them  were  by  the  terms  of  his  agreement  il- 
legal ;  but  he  appears  to  have  suffered  no  qualms  of 
conscience  over  the  transaction.  The  Griffon  was, 
however,  soon  thereafter  lost  in  a  gale  on  Lake 
Michigan,  so  that  the  question  was  never  raised. 

At  Green  Bay,  La  Salle  an:i  Tonty  had  left  the 
vessel,  which  was  to  be  taken  to  Mackinac  by  her 
crew,  and  it  was  many  months  later  before  they 
heard  of  the  disaster.  The  former,  with  fourteen 
men,  proceeded  in  canoes  up  Lake  Michigan  along 
the  west  shore,  and  the  latter  led  a  Uke  contingent 
by  the  east,  the  two  parties  reuniting  at  the  mouth 
of  St.  Joseph  River.  Descending  to  the  Illinois  by 
way  of  the  Kankakee  portage,  the  party  were  at 
Peoria  Lake  on  New  Year's  Day,  1680,  in  the  midst 
of  a  considerable  population  of  Illinois,  to  whom 
Marquette  and  Allouez  had  ministered  at  this  point. 
Here  the  adventurers  stopped,  and  built  a  palisade 
which  was  named  Fort  Crevecoeur — apparently  in 
compliment  to  Louis  XIV.  in  allusion  to  his  capt- 
ure (1672)  of  a  Netherlands  stronghold  of  that 
name. 

La  Salle  now  found  it  essential  to  return  to  Fort 
Frontenac  for  naval  supplies,  to  fit  out  a  vessel 
with  which  he  designed  exploring  the  lower  Missis- 
sippi. Four  days  before  his  departure  he  despatch- 
ed an  expedition  to  the  upper  waters  of  that  river. 
This  was  headed  by  Michel  Accau  (Ako),  who  was 
accompanied    by    Antoine    Augel    (nicknamed    "  le 


64  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1680 

Picard  ")  and  Father  Hennepin — the  latter  merely 
the  usual  ecclesiastical  supernumerary,  but  as  the 
chronicler  of  the  voyage  quite  generally  accepted  by 
historians  as  its  leader/  Accau's  party,  leaving 
Cr^vecoeur  on  the  last  day  of  February,  eventually 
reached  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony  (the  site  of  the 
modern  Minneapolis),  about  five  hundred  miles 
above  the  mouth  of  the  Illinois.  Taken  prisoners 
by  the  Sioux,  they  were  treated  as  kindly  as  pos- 
sible by  their  captors,  but  sometimes  necessarily 
lived  on  short  commons.  After  extended  wander- 
ings in  northeastern  Minnesota  and  northwestern 
Wisconsin,  during  which  they  shared  with  the  na- 
tives abundant  hardships,  they  were  rescued  by 
Tonty's  cousin,  Duluth,  who,  with  four  followers, 
was  visiting  the  Sioux  in  the  interests  of  Fronte- 
nac's  fur-trade.  Duluth  escorted  the  party  down 
the  Mississippi,  and  over  the  Fox- Wisconsin  trade- 
route  to  Mackinac,  where  the  Jesuits  entertained 
them  handsomely  until  spring,  when  they  could 
proceed  down  the  lakes  to  Niagara  and  Fort  Fron- 
tenac. 

On  his  return  to  France,  not  long  after,  Henne- 
pin wrote  an  entertaining  account  of  his  remark- 
ably varied  American  experiences,  which  was  pub- 
lished in  1682  under  the  title  of  Description  de  la 
Louisiane,^  and  had  a  large  sale  in  several  succeed- 

'  Up  to  this  point  Hennepin  is  the  chief  authority  relative  to 
the  first  western  voyage  of  La  Salle. 

'  La  Salle  had  used  the  term  "Louisiane"  as  early  as  1679. 


i68o]  THE    MISSISSIPPI  65 

ing  editions  in  French,  Italian,  Dutch,  and  German. 
But  in  1697  he  brough  forth  another  work,  Nou- 
velle  D^couverte,  in  which — La  Salle  now  being  dead 
— he  unblushingly  claimed  that  his  party  not  only 
explored  the  upper  Mississippi  in  1680,  but  on  their 
return  south  descended  the  great  river  to  its  mouth. 
His  description  of  this  feat,  one  quite  impossible 
in  the  time  at  their  command,  was  but  a  clumsy 
plagiarism  from  the  report  of  his  colleague,  Mem- 
bre,  upon  the  voyage  to  be  mentioned  below,  which 
that  friar  made  in  La  Salle's  company  in  1682. 
This  bold  assumption  was  soon  discredited,  how- 
ever, and  the  erratic  Hennepin's  last  years  were 
spent  in  obscurity,  his  own  order  deeming  him  a 
conceited  braggart.  However,  Hennepin's  work  on 
America  is,  aside  from  this  one  fault,  an  invaluable 
contribution  to  the  history  of  New  France  and  to 
American  ethnology.^ 

When  La  Salle  had  departed  Tonty,  now  in 
charge,  occupied  Starved  Rock,  a  steep,  high  cliff 
on  the  banks  of  the  Illinois,  and  built  thereon  Fort 
St.  Louis.  During  the  spring  and  summer  most 
of  his  men  deserted — for  the  employment  was  not 
popular,  and  rival  fur-traders  were  continually  try- 
ing to  seduce  La  Salle's  following;  so  that  when, 
in  September,  the  Illinois  were  attacked  by  an 
Iroquois  war-party,  Tonty  and  his  four  remaining 
companions — three  men  and  Membr6,   Father  Ri- 

*  See  Thwaites,  Hennepin's  New  Discovery,  Introd.,  for  argu- 
ment and  summary;  text  for  details. 


66  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1680 

bourde  having  been  killed  by  Kickapoo — retreated 
northward  out  of  harm's  way.  Crossing  over  to 
Lake  Michigan,  they  descended  along  the  west 
shore,  at  a  time  when  La  Salle  himself  was  hastening 
up  the  east  coast  to  their  relief.  Delayed  by  bad 
weather  and  Tonty's  illness,  it  was  December  be- 
fore his  party  reached  the  Jesuit  mission  at  Green 
Bay  with  their  story  of  disaster. 

Meanwhile,  La  Salle  had  had  a  severe  trip;  he 
discovered  that  the  Grifjon  was  lost,  that  his  agents 
had  robbed  him  at  Fort  Frontenac,  and  that  his 
creditors  were  not  only  trying  to  foreclose  his  estate 
but  were  defaming  him ;  while  commercial  and  polit- 
ical enemies  were  multiplying  on  every  hand.  Nev- 
ertheless, he  obtained  fresh  credit  and  supplies  at 
Montreal,  and,  as  related  above,  unwittingly  passed 
Tonty  on  the  return  voyage.  Finding  nothing  but 
traces  of  disaster  on  the  Illinois,  he  retreated  to 
St.  Joseph  River,  where  he  built  Fort  Miami.  The 
next  spring  (1681),  having  at  last  heard  of  the 
whereabouts  of  Tonty  and  Membre,  he  hurried  on 
to  join  them  at  Mackinac,  the  party  thence  jour- 
neying to  their  base  at  Fort  Frontenac. 

In  August,  with  credit  once  more  extended,  but 
leaving  behind  him  an  enormous  debt,  the  undaunted 
adventurer  again  started  for  the  west  with  Tonty 
and  Membr6,  their  party  consisting  of  fifty-four 
men,  of  whom  twenty-three  were  French,  a  con- 
tingent later  increased  to  thirty  French  and  a  hun- 
dred   Indians.     Dividing    into    two    sections,   they 


1683]  THE    MISSISSIPPI  67 

reached  the  lUinois  both  by  the  Chicago  and  St. 
Joseph-Kankakee  routes,  and  on  February  6,  1682, 
entered  the  Mississippi  River  (then  called  Colbert). 
March  9,  when  among  the  wandering  Arkansas,  La 
Salle  took  formal  possession,  for  his  king,  of  the 
vast  basin  of  the  Mississippi;  and  April  9  repeated 
the  ceremony,  with  elaborations,  at  one  of  the  mouths 
of  the  Mississippi.  But  food  was  scarce,  the  country 
was  unhealthy,  the  Indians  were  treacherous,  and 
La  SaUe  was  for  forty  days  ill  with  fever;  the  ex- 
pedition, therefore,  returned  to  Mackinac.  This  was 
the  futile  voyage  which  Membre  described,  and 
which  Hennepin,  so  far  as  the  discoveries  were  con- 
cerned, appropriated  as  his  own  experience. 

During  this  summer  Frontenac,  La  Salle's  friend 
and  fur-trade  partner,  had  been  replaced  as  governor 
by  La  Barre,  who  discredited  the  explorer  and  did 
what  he  could  to  ruin  him.  Moreover,  the  Indian 
trade  of  the  lakes  was,  despite  all  efforts,  fast  being 
absorbed  by  the  English.  Nevertheless,  La  Salle 
and  his  faithful  Tonty  descended  in  the  autumn 
to  the  Illinois,  rebuilt  Fort  St.  Louis  on  Starved 
Rock,  and  carried  on  a  profitable  trade  in  buffalo 
hides  with  the  six  thousand  Illinois  who  had  re- 
assembled in  the  neighborhood.  In  the  autumn 
of  1683  La  Salle  started  for  Quebec  to  propitiate 
La  Barre,  and  on  the  east  coast  of  Lake  Michigan 
met  the  Chevalier  de  Baugis,  who  had  been  sent  out 
by  the  governor  to  relieve  La  Salle  of  command  in 
the    Illinois.     With  more  tact  than  customary,  La 


68  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1683 

Salle  sent  back  word  to  Tonty  to  yield  gracefully, 
and  soon  after  this  La  Barre's  traders  were  swarm- 
ing into  the  region. 

La  Salle  himself  reached  Quebec  safely,  and, 
without  waiting  to  concern  himself  with  the  govern- 
or, at  once  sailed  for  France  to  lay  his  case  before  the 
court.  Hennepin's  first  and  reasonably  veracious 
book  was  now  upon  the  market,  and  Canada  was 
much  in  the  public  eye.  The  explorer  of  the  far 
interior  of  this  land  of  mystery  accordingly  made  a 
good  impression  and  found  ready  listeners.  La 
Barre  was  ordered  by  the  king  to  restore  Fort  Fron- 
tenac.  Fort  Miami,  and  Fort  St.  Louis  of  the  Illinois 
to  La  Salle ;  and  the  latter  was  authorized  to  found 
colonies  in  Louisiana,  also  to  govern  the  country 
between  Lake  Michigan  and  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 
He  was  further  assisted  in  this  imperial  enterprise 
with  four  ships  and  nearly  four  hundred  men. 

At  last  heading  an  expedition  worthy  of  the 
cause,  La  Salle  set  out  from  Rochelle  (July  24,  1684) 
in  high  spirits.  But  the  principal  vessel  was  com- 
manded by  Captain  Beaujeu,  and  soon  there  was 
bad  blood  between  him  and  the  often  haughty  and 
arrogant  leader.  The  Spanish  captured  one  of 
their  ships,  and  the  other  three  failed  to  find  the 
mouth  of  the  Mississippi.  Rendezvousing  in  Mat- 
agorda Bay,  in  January,  1685,  far  west  of  their  desti- 
nation, another  vessel  was  soon  grounded  and  lost. 
La  Salle  landed  his  pioneers  in  February,  and  built 
another  Fort  St.   Louis;  but  disease  was  rife,  the 


i687]  THE    MISSISSIPPI  69 

tools  had  largely  gone  down  with  the  wreck,  and 
the  Indians  were  hostile.  A  month  later  Beaujeu 
left  the  wretched  and  ill-equipped  colony  and  sailed 
to  France,  and  the  remaining  ship  was  wrecked 
later  in  the  year. 

Vain  were  all  efforts  to  find  the  mouth  of  the 
Mississippi.  The  colony  was  being  wasted  in  toil- 
some expeditions  up  and  down  the  forests  and 
morasses  edging  the  gulf,  desertions  frequently  oc- 
curred, and  a  spirit  of  mutiny  arose.  Early  in 
January,  1687,  La  Salle,  his  brother  Abbe  Jean 
Cavelier,  Father  Douay,  Joutel,  the  journalist  of 
the  colony,*  and  a  small  party — in  all,  seventeen 
weak,  ragged,  half -starved,  and  desperate  men,  in- 
cluding two  or  three  Indians — started  out,  on  horses 
obtained  from  the  natives,  to  reach  Canada  over- 
land and  secure  aid  and  reinforcements  by  sea  from 
France.  Twenty  were  left  behind  as  a  garrison.  On 
March  19,  while  upon  the  bank  of  Trinity  River, 
when  conditions  were  at  their  worst.  La  Salle  was 
ambuscaded  by  some  of  his  disaffected  companions, 
shot  dead,  stripped  of  clothing,  and  the  naked  corpse 
left  to  the  wolves.  The  assassins  soon  quarrelled 
among  themselves  and  disappeared  into  the  woods, 
leaving  La  Salle's  friends  to  go  their  way. 

When  Joutel  and  his  handful  of  comrades  ar- 
rived at  the  mouth  of  the  Arkansas,  they  foimd  there 
two  of  Tonty's  followers;  for  the  faithful  lieuten- 

'For  details,  consult  Joutel,  "Relation,"^  in  Margry,  Decou- 
vertes,  III.;  also  the  former's  Journal  Historique. 


70  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1687 

ant  had  long  been  searching  for  his  master,  at  the 
head  of  a  party  of  twenty-five  French  and  eleven 
Indians,  and  had  left  these  men  here  on  special 
detail.  Tonty's  party  had  descended  the  river,  ex- 
plored for  thirty  leagues  on  either  side  of  the  mouth, 
and  returned  disheartened.  Tonty  left  in  the  hands 
of  a  native  chief  a  letter  for  La  Salle,  and  this  was 
the  missive  which  fourteen  years  later  was  handed 
to  Iberville,  as  elsewhere  related.^  Joutel  joined 
Tonty  at  Starved  Rock,  and,  being  outfitted  by  him, 
proceeded  to  Mackinac  and  eventually  to  Quebec. 
Apparently  impelled  both  by  a  desire  to  obtain 
supplies  en  route,  from  friends  of  La  Salle,  and  the 
wish  of  his  relatives  among  the  survivors  to  be  on 
hand  at  the  distribution  of  an  estate  which  would 
surely  be  quarrelled  over  by  creditors,  the  survivors 
concealed  the  fact  of  their  leader's  death,  and  the 
truth  was  not  known  until  after  their  arrival  in 
France,  in  October,  1688. 

As  for  the  score  of  miserable  colonists  left  by 
La  Salle  at  Fort  St.  Louis,  on  Matagorda  Bay,  the 
heartless  king  made  no  effort  for  their  relief;  but 
the  Spanish,  jealous  of  French  encroachments, 
laimched  four  expeditions  to  find  them.  In  May, 
1689,  an  overland  party  from  Mexico  discovered 
the  battered  palisade,  and  found  it  desolate,  save 
for  three  bodies.  Prowling  Indians  had  attacked 
the  starving  crew,  and  either  killed  or  imprisoned 

'  See  chap,  v.,  below.  Letter  dated  Village  des  Quinipissas, 
April  20,  1685,  in  Margry,  Ddcouvertes ,  IV.,  181,  190,  191. 


1689]  THE    MISSISSIPPI  71 

all.  Later,  Spanish  officials  humanely  ransomed 
some  of  the  survivors  from  their  savage  captors. 
Thus  closed  one  of  the  most  tragic  chapters  in  Ameri- 
can exploration. 

Of  all  the  characterizations  of  La  Salle,  who  un- 
doubtedly was,  with  all  his  shortcomings,  one  of 
the  greatest  pathfinders  in  history,  none  is  more 
discriminating  than  these  words  of  Joutel,  coming 
from  a  loyal  supporter  who  knew  him  intimately,  in 
the  period  wherein  great  triimiph  was  succeeded  by 
the  most  abject  adversity:  "His  firmness,  his  cour- 
age, his  great  knowledge  of  the  arts  and  sciences, 
which  made  him  equal  to  every  undertaking,  and 
his  imtiring  energy,  which  enabled  him  to  surmount 
every  obstacle,  would  have  won  at  last  a  glorious 
success  for  his  grand  enterprise,  had  not  all  his  fine 
qualities  been  counterbalanced  by  a  haughtiness  of 
manner  which  often  made  him  insupportable,  and 
by  a  harshness  towards  those  under  his  command, 
which  drew  upon  him  an  implacable  hatred,  and 
was  at  last  the  cause  of  his  death."  ^ 

^Jcmrnal  Histortque,  203. 


CHAPTER    V 

LOUISIANA    AND    THE    ILLINOIS 
(1697-1731) 

WHEN  the  treaty  of  Ryswick  (1697),  closing 
the  Palatinate  War  —  known  in  America  as 
King  William's  or  Frontenac's — brought  to  Europe 
a  temporary  cessation  from  armed  strife,  Louis  XIV. 
was  prevailed  upon  to  make  an  official  undertaking 
of  what  had  originally  been  so  largely  supported  by 
the  slender  purse  of  La  Salle.  The  reports  of  that 
ill-fated  explorer  had  fired  the  imagination  of  French- 
men in  both  hemispheres,  and  the  time  now  seemed 
ripe  for  another  attempt  to  execute  his  ambitious 
project  of  a  French  establishment  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Mississippi,  to  be  connected  with  the  St.  Law- 
rence colonies  of  New  France  by  a  continuous  line 
of  forts  along  the  two  great  interlocking  continental 
drainage  troughs. 

Among  the  men  whose  ambitions  had  been  stirred 
by  the  deeds  of  La  Salle  were  two  hardy  and  chiv- 
alrous sons  of  Charles  le  Moyne,  of  Quebec,  co- 
lonial interpreter  and  captain  of  militia  —  Pierre, 
known  to  history  as  Iberville,  and  his  yoimger 
brother  Jean  Baptiste,  whom  from  his  seigniory  we 

72 


1698]  LOUISIANA    AND    ILLINOIS  73 

call  Bienville.  Iberville,  a  born  buccaneer,  whose 
daring  naval  expeditions  against  the  English  on 
Hudson  Bay  had  made  him  a  marked  figure  among 
the  adventurers  of  New  France,^  was  selected  to 
lead  the  enterprise.  He  departed  from  Brest  in 
the  last  week  of  October,  1698,  when  in  his  thirty- 
eighth  year,  with  two  frigates  escorting  two  trans- 
ports laden  with  a  well-selected  company  of  two 
hundred  soldiers  and  colonists,  among  the  party 
being  Bienville,  then  a  midshipman  but  eighteen 
years  of  age,  the  young  Sieur  de  Sauvole,^  and 
Father  Anastase  Douay,  a  Recollect  friar,  who,  as  a 
survivor  of  La  Salle's  last  expedition  (1684),  pos- 
sessed much  valuable  local  knowledge.  The  leader 
was  equipped  with  instructions  ostensibly  ordering 
him  to  explore  the  Amazon,  the  intention  being  to 
deceive  the  English  in  case  they  proved  of  a  jealous- 
ly inquisitive  turn  of  mind,  for  they  themselves  were 
covetous  in  the  direction  of  the  Mississippi  delta.' 

Iberville  touched  at  Santo  Domingo  for  rest  and 
supplies,  but  was  refused  permission  to  land  by  the 
Spanish  garrison  at  Pensacola,  notwithstanding  his 
pretence  that  he  was  but  going  to  arrest  vagrant 
coureurs  de  bois,  supposed  to  be  harbored  along  the 
gulf.  Pocketing  the  rebuff,  the  adventurers  erected 
huts  on  Ship   Island,   eighteen  miles  southeast  of 

*  See  above,  chap.  iv. 

*  Fortier,  Louisiana,  I.,  t,^,,  thinks  him  a  brother  of  Iberville 
and  Bienville;  discredited  by  Hamilton,  Colonial  Mobile,  32. 

'  Margry,  Decouvertes,  IV.,  58-62. 

VOL     VII  — 1 


74  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1699 

the  present  Mississippi  City;  and  in  February  (1699) 
biiilt  Fort  Maurepas  on  the  Back  Bay  of  Biloxi  * 
— a  beautiful  situation,  backed  by  a  forest  of  pines, 
walnuts,  chestnuts,  and  live-oaks,  but  with  iinsani- 
tary  conditions,  unfit  water,  a  sterile  soil,  and  far 
removed  from  a  waterway  by  which  the  interior 
might  readily  be  penetrated. 

Heading  a  party  in  row-boats  and  canoes,  com- 
posed of  Bienville,  Sauvole,  Douay,  and  forty-eight 
men-at-arms,  Iberville  sailed  in  search  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, rediscovered  the  river  on  March  2,  "  the  water 
all  muddy  and  very  white,"  and  proceeded  two 
hundred  miles  up-stream,  to  the  mouth  of  the  Red. 
Returning,  Bienville  descended  by  the  way  they 
had  come,  while  Iberville  led  half  of  the  party 
through  the  Bayou  Iberville  and  lakes  Maurepas 
and  Pontchartrain  into  Bay  St.  Louis,  on  the  way 
securing  from  the  natives  a  letter  which  the  Chev- 
alier de  Tonty,  La  Salle's  lieutenant,  had  written 
fourteen  years  before,  when  turning  north  from  his 
fruitless  search  for  his  chief's  reputed  colony  at  the 
mouth  of  the  great  river. ^  Tonty  had  left  word 
that  this  document  was  to  be  handed  to  the  first 
Frenchman  to  appear  in  the  region;  and  it  was 
welcomed  by  Iberville  as  indisputable  evidence  that 
he  had  reached  the  country  to  which  La  Salle  had 
drawn  the  attention  of  France. 


*  Hamilton,  Colonial  Mobile,  31;  Penicaut's  "Journal,"  in 
Margry,  D6couvertes,  V.,  is  the  chief  authority  for  the  daily  life 
of  the  colony  for  several  years.  ^  See  above,  chap.  iv. 


•  •  •  •  •  French  Trader 

o  o  o  o  o  Bourgmont 

_o_o— o  Du  Tisne 

X  —  X  —  X  St. Denis  Route 

La  Harpe's  Route 

Mallet  Brothers 


1699]  LOUISIANA    AND    ILLINOIS  75 

Sauvole  and  Bienville  had  been  favorably  im- 
pressed with  the  present  site  of  New  Orleans — a 
relatively  dry  plain  in  the  midst  of  the  vast  mo- 
rasses of  the  delta — and  reported  it  as  a  fit  seat  for 
the  colony.  But  Iberville  feared  that  an  inland 
town  would  be  subject  to  Indian  raids,  and  re- 
mained at  Biloxi  Bay  within  sight  of  the  gulf.  In 
this  extremely  undesirable  situation,  the  little  colony 
of  ninety  persons,  although  nestled  safely  within 
the  shadow  of  the  substantially  built  palisade  and 
bastions  of  Fort  Maurepas,  suffered  severely  from 
shortage  of  food,  decimating  fevers,  and  lack  of 
Indian  trade.  Desertions,  also,  were  not  uncom- 
mon; for,  bereft  of  soil  suitable  for  agriculture,  and 
lacking  other  occupation,  the  men  wandered  far 
into  the  interior  upon  independent  quests  for  mines 
and  for  trade  with  the  natives. 

Tonty,  who  since  La  Salle's  death  had  valiantly 
remained  at  Fort  St.  Louis  of  the  Illinois,  conduct- 
ing a  spasmodic  trade  in  buffalo  hides  and  vainly 
petitioning  the  court  for  aid  in  exploring  Louisiana, 
was  soon  in  correspondence  with  the  gulf  colony. 
We  read  of  one  of  his  men,  Launay,  who  had  sever- 
al times  joiimeyed  down  the  Mississippi,  being  at 
Biloxi  in  1699,  drawing  for  Iberville  a  map  of  the 
river;  and  Tonty  receiving  a  message  from  the 
latter,  conveyed  by  returning  missionaries.^  It 
seems  likely  that  some  of  the  deserters  may  them- 
selves have  ventured  to   the    Illinois,    where   Kas- 

•  Margry,  Decouvertes,  IV.,  453,  459. 


76  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1699 

kaskia  and  other  prosperous  colonies  were  now 
being  established. 

Early  in  May  (1699)  Iberville  returned  to  France 
with  the  ships,  leaving  Sauvole  in  command  at 
Biloxi,  with  Bienville  as  lieutenant.  Thereafter  the 
founder  spent  a  large  share  of  his  time  in  France  or 
upon  cruises  against  Spanish  treasure-ships,  with 
but  occasional  visits  to  the  colony.  Early  in  1702, 
just  previous  to  his  final  departure — for  death  over- 
took him  at  Havana  four  years  later — he  directed 
its  removal  to  Twenty-seven  Mile  Bluff,  on  Mobile 
River,  where  Fort  Louis  of  Louisiana  (named  for 
the  king,  not  the  saint)  was  erected.  This  was  a 
more  favorable  position,  Iberville  thought;  for  by 
the  Tombigbee  and  Alabama  rivers  the  Indians  of  a 
large  district  could  be  reached,  and  from  here  it 
was  possible  with  their  help  to  attack,  if  need  be, 
the  rear  of  the  English  colonies  of  Carolina  and 
Virginia  and  intercept  their  forest  trade.  ^  In 
17 10,  under  Bienville,  another  change  of  base  was 
affected,  because  of  floods  —  this  time  to  higher 
ground,  on  the  site  of  the  modem  Mobile.' 

During  the  summer  of  1700  Iberville  ascended 
the  Mississippi  as  far  as  the  Natchez  neighborhood, 
in  company  with  a  mining  adventurer,  Pierre 
Charles  le  Sueur,  who  at  least  seven  years  previous 
had  been  upon  the  upper  reaches  of  the  river,  also 
upon  the  Minnesota,  searching  for  copper,  lead,  and 

^  M.a.rgTy ,  Dicouvertes ,  V.,  587,  595-597- 
'Hamilton,  Colonial  Mobile,  42-70. 


I700]  LOUISIANA    AND    ILLINOIS  77 

colored  earths.  He  had  served  as  a  commandant 
on  Lake  Superior  as  early  as  1693,  and  two  years 
later  constructed  a  fort  on  Lake  Pepin;  but  re- 
ceiving no  encouragement  from  Canadian  officials 
to  work  his  mines,  he  returned  to  France,  where 
he  met  Iberville,  and  joined  him  at  Biloxi.  Ac- 
companied by  twenty  experienced  miners  from 
France,  Le  Sueur  renewed  his  northern  quest,  with 
the  accustomed  unsatisfactory  result.  Extensive 
explorations  for  mines  were  also  made  at  this  time 
by  various  prospecting  parties  in  Louisiana,  Missis- 
sippi, Alabama,  Arkansas,  and  Tennessee.* 

However,  one  important  discovery  was  made  by 
Le  Sueur:  an  English  trader  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Arkansas — for  even  in  this  closing  year  of  the  sev- 
enteenth century  English  rivalry  had  commenced 
upon  the  lower  Mississippi.  The  men  of  the  mid- 
dle colonies  and  Virginia  were  still  impeded  by  the 
rugged  barrier  of  the  Alleghany  range  from  other 
than  feeble  efforts  towards  reaching  west-flowing 
waters;  and  the  fierce  tribes  of  the  north  were  jealous 
of  white  men's  intrusion  on  their  domain — although 
Iroquois  opposition  to  the  French  caused  the  New 
York  tribesmen  to  permit  English  and  Dutch  fur- 
traders  occasionally  to  pass  the  dividing  ridge  and 
barter  for  peltries  with  savage  bands  who  would 
otherwise  have  sought  the  markets  of  New  France. 

*  Penicaut's  "Relation,"  in  Margry,  Decouvertes,  V.,  416- 
420 ;  Shea,  Early  Mississippi  Voyages,  89-1 1 1 ;  Wis.  Hist.  Collec- 
tions, XVI.,  173-200. 


78  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1699 

The  southern  end  of  the  range  breaks  down  into 
modest  hills,  which  were  easily  traversed  by  the 
Carolina  traders,  who  with  pack  -  horses  wended 
their  way  over  a  comparatively  level  trail  leading 
westward  through  the  country  of  the  village-dwell- 
ing Cherokee,  and  even  occasionally  penetrated  to 
the  Red  River  tribes  beyond  the  Mississippi.  But 
the  Indian  population  through  this  table-land  was 
relatively  sparse  and  the  tribes  of  the  Arkansas 
were  far  distant;  then,  again,  horse -trail  traders 
could  carry  but  light  loads,  were  more  subject  to 
attack  than  those  who  swept  along  the  northern 
rivers  in  heavily  laden  and  well-guarded  canoes  and 
bateaux;  and  in  their  cupidity  the  Cherokee  were 
wont  to  rob  and  not  seldom  murder  the  English 
and  Scotch-Irish  forest  merchants.  Thus  the  French 
in  Louisiana  long  enjoyed  immunity  from  serious 
commercial  competition  from  Carolina ;  nevertheless, 
Le  Sueur's  discovery  was  ominous,  and  in  his  report 
to  the  court  that  autumn  (September  7,  1700)* 
Iberville  alludes  to  the  growing  danger  of  English 
rivalry. 

To  add  to  their  uneasiness,  the  Spanish  governor 
at  Pensacola  had  but  recently  visited  Biloxi  and 
filed  with  them  a  protest  against  this  wedge  of 
French  settlement,  now  numbering  some  seven 
hundred  persons,  between  the  Spanish  of  Mexico 
and  Florida.  A  few  years  later,  during  Crozat's 
regime,  Spanish  vessels  freely  preyed  upon  French 

*  Margry,  D^couveries,  IV.,  370-378. 


1719]  LOUISIANA    AND    ILLINOIS 


79 


commerce  passing  through  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 
Taking  advantage  of  the  outbreak  of  war  in  Europe 
between  the  Quadruple  Alliance  and  Spain,  Bien- 
ville, early  in  17 19,  captured  Pensacola;  the  Spanish 
retook  the  fort,  but  Bienville  won  it  a  second  time 
in  September;  it  was  then  restored  to  Spain  by  the 
treaty  of  a  few  months  later. 

Another  incident  also  gave  the  Biloxi  colonists 
pause.  Bienville  was  descending  the  Mississippi 
from  one  of  his  numerous  exploring  expeditions  in 
small  boats,  when  (September  15,  1699),  at  a  bend 
in  the  river  eighteen  miles  below  the  present  New 
Orleans,  called  English  Turn,  he  met  an  English 
frigate  of  sixteen  guns.  Its  captain  had  been  sent 
out  by  Daniel  Coxe,  proprietor  of  Carolana  and  "  all 
the  lands  lying  westward  to  the  sea,"  to  found  a 
settlement  that  should  command  the  approach  to 
the  interior  of  the  continent.  But  he  had  left  his 
colonists  at  Charleston,  and  with  a  slender  crew 
was  somewhat  perfunctorily  examining  the  lower 
reaches  of  the  Mississippi  —  a  voyage  afterwards 
instanced  by  Great  Britain  as  supporting  her  claim 
to  this  region.  The  youthful  commander  of  the 
little  fleet  of  small  boats  is  said  to  have  deceived  the 
formidable  intruder  with  representations  that  the 
French  were  already  planted  in  force  not  far  up- 
stream, whereupon  the  Englishman  politely  withdrew.' 

'Letter  of  Sauvole,  in  Margry,  Decouvertes,  IV.,  455,  456; 
see  also  La  Harpe,  in  Journal  Historique,  19,  20.  But  the  evi- 
dence as  to  the  deception  is  inconclusive. 


8o  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1701 

Iberville  and  Sauvole  soon  passing  away,  Bien- 
ville remained  until  1743  the  principal  historical 
figure  in  Louisiana.  Others  occasionally  occupied 
the  post  of  governor ;  but  Bienville,  as  devoted  and 
disinterested  as  Champlain,  was  throughout  this 
protracted  period  the  chief  actor,  and  powerfully 
and  beneficently  influenced  the  colony.  During  his 
long  supremacy  the  wide-stretching  region  of  Lou- 
isiana was  the  scene  of  many  fruitful  events. 

Not  unnaturally,  Iberville's  venture  occasioned 
great  alarm  among  the  fur  merchants  of  Canada. 
Just  as  their  operations  upon  the  upper  Mississippi 
were  becoming  important,  this  new  danger  arose,  of 
a  probable  diversion  down  that  river  of  trade  that 
had  heretofore  sought  an  opening  by  way  of  the 
St.  Lawrence.  Their  concern  was  not  lessened  when 
in  1 701  Governor  Callieres  received  notice  from  the 
court  that  the  new  province  of  Louisiana  would  be 
governed  direct  from  France,  not  from  Quebec,  Iber- 
ville being  named  as  the  king's  representative  in  the 
south.* 

In  17 1 2,  Sieur  Antoine  Crozat  was  granted  for 
twelve  years  a  monopoly  of  trade,  mining,  land 
grants,  and  slavery  in  Louisiana,  to  which  "the 
laws,  edicts,  and  ordinances  of  the  realm,  and  the 
custom  of  Paris"  were  extended;  although  the 
grantee  was  given  certain  powers  of  nomination 
that  placed  in  his  hands  not  a  little  political  con- 
trol. In  this  charter,  which  gave  to  Louisiana  its 
*  Margry,  Dicouveries,  V.,  591,  606. 


i7i8]  LOUISIANA    AND    ILLINOIS  8i 

first  civil  government,  the  bounds  of  the  province 
were  officially  mentioned;  the  imperfect  state  of 
geographical  knowledge  rendered  it,  however,  im- 
practicable to  set  definite  limits.  In  general  terms, 
Louisiana  was  to  extend  from  New  Mexico  to  "the 
lands  of  the  English  of  Carolana,"  to  embrace  the 
rivers  Mississippi,  Missouri,  Ohio,  and  Wabash,  and 
to  run  "from  the  edge  of  the  sea  as  far  as  the  Illi- 
nois"— while  beyond  the  Illinois  (which  district 
probably  extended  to  the  mouth  of  the  Wisconsin) 
the  country  was  to  be  retained  under  the  govern- 
ment of  New  France.  It  is  not  certain  from  the 
phrasing  of  the  grant  that  it  was  sought  actually 
to  include  the  Illinois  in  Louisiana ;  but  as  the  pat- 
entee certainly  exercised  control  over  the  northern 
district,  no  doubt  it  was  understood  at  court  to  be 
a  part  of  his  domain.^  Crozat  opened  lead  mines 
as  far  north  as  Missouri,  but  his  great  venture 
failed.  He  resigned  his  monopoly  to  John  Law's 
Company  of  the  West  (chartered  1 7 1 7 ) ,  which  had 
contracted  to  settle  six  thousand  whites  and  half 
that  number  of  negro  slaves  within  twenty -five 
years. 

New  Orleans,  founded  by  Bienville  in  February, 
1 7 18,  thenceforth  was  not  only  the  seat  of  govern- 
ment but  the  metropolis  of  the  far-spreading  prov- 
ince. Three  years  later  Louisiana  was  divided  into 
nine  military  districts,  called  Mobile,  Biloxi,  Ala- 
bama,   New    Orleans,    Yazoo,    Natchez,    Arkansas, 

'Text  of  grant  in  French,  La.  Hist.  Collections,  III.,  38-42. 


82  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1704 

Illinois,  and  Natchitoches,'  the  last-named  a  buffer 
against  the  hostile  attitude  of  the  Spanish  towards 
French  encroachments  to  the  southwest. 

Prominent  among  the  purposes  of  the  founders 
of  Louisiana  was  the  development  of  an  overland 
commerce  with  the  Spanish  colonies  to  the  south- 
west. Texas  was  at  this  time  claimed  by  the 
Spanish,  and  their  trading  caravans  had  visited  the 
Indians  of  the  district ;  but,  thus  far,  there  had  been 
no  attempt  at  settlement.  The  French  also  claimed 
the  territory  by  virtue  of  La  Salle's  colony,  which 
had  been  thwarted  by  Spanish  machinations.  In 
17 14,  Bienville  despatched  an  expedition  under 
Louis  Juchereau,  the  Sieur  de  St.  Denis,  who  reached 
a  Span-ish  mission  on  the  Gila  River.  There  he 
formed  such  pleasant  relations  with  his  hosts  that 
he  proceeded  to  the  city  of  Mexico,  and  returned 
in  17 16  with  a  favorable  report  to  his  superior.  A 
second  expedition  under  his  charge,  with  which 
were  associated  six  adventurous  Canadians,  fol- 
lowed the  same  route;  the  Canadians  returned  to 
Mobile  after  a  profitable  trade,  but  St.  Denis  was 
imprisoned  by  the  Spanish,  and  two  years  elapsed 
before  his  release.'  Meanwhile  (17 17),  the  French 
erected  a  fort  at  Natchitoches,  near  Red  River, 
only  seven  leagues  from  a  Spanish  outpost  in  Tex- 
as.'   This  vantage  was  maintained  throughout  the 

'  French,  La.  Hist.  Collections,  III.,  84. 

'  Margry,  Dccouvertes,  VI.,  193-199;  Journal  Ilistorique,  116, 
129,   130.         ^Journal  Historique,  131;  Margry.VI.,  252-255. 


1726]  LOUISIANA    AND    ILLINOIS  83 

French  regime;  but  another,  some  eighty  miles 
above,  among  the  Caddo  Indians,  established  (17 19) 
by  Bernard  de  la  Harpe,  was  of  a  less  permanent 
character.*  La  Harpe,  a  wide  traveller,  was  engaged 
in  several  trading  and  exploring  expeditions  on  the 
upper  waters  of  the  Red  and  Arkansas,  and  in  1722 
built  a  post  on  the  latter  stream,'  on  a  site  which 
Tonty  had  garrisoned  in  1686. 

The  Missouri  River,  also,  was  not  neglected. 
Canadians  were  reported  upon  that  waterway  as 
early  as  1704;  while  in  the  few  succeeding  years  the 
traders  Laurain,  De  Bourgmont,  and  Du  Tisne  un- 
dertook considerable  journeys  among  the  Pawnee, 
Osage,  and  Arapaho  tribes.  These  overtures  to 
their  old  -  time  customers  were  resented  by  the 
Spanish,  who  in  1720  undertook  a  retributive  ex- 
pedition among  the  Missouri  allies  of  their  neigh- 
bors, a  movement  which  greatly  alarmed  the  French 
of  the  Illinois.  Two  years  later,  De  Bourgmont 
erected  Fort  Orleans  on  the  Missouri — probably  on 
the  north  bank,  in  the  present  Carroll  County,  Mis- 
souri— and  there  maintained  himself  with  a  strong 
garrison  for  four  years;  withdrawing  gradually,  the 
remnant  of  his  force  fell  (1725  or  1726)  victims  to 
an  Indian  massacre.' 

After  the   disaster  at  Fort  Orleans,  subsequent 


^Journal  Historique,  178-219;  Margry,  VI.,  243-306. 
^Journal  Historique,  282-285;  Margry,  VI.,  357-382. 
'  Du   Pratz,   Louisiana,   297;    Villiers  du  Terrage,   Dernieres 
Annees  de  la  Louisiana,  17. 


84  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [17.9 

expeditions  set  forth  from  the  Illinois  rather  than 
from  Louisiana.  Reports  are  extant  concerning  en- 
terprises of  this  character  in  1734  and  1739 — the 
caravan  in  the  latter  year  being  apparently  headed 
by  two  brothers,  Pierre  and  Paul  Mallet,  who  seem 
successfully  to  have  reached  Santa  Fe,  the  seat  of 
Spanish  trade  in  those  parts.  They  returned  by 
way  of  New  Orleans,  where  Bienville  was  delighted 
at  the  result  of  so  far  -  reaching  an  exploration. 
Among  the  experiences  of  these  adventurers,  near 
the  head-waters  of  the  Arkansas,  was  what  was  pos- 
sibly the  first  sight  by  Frenchmen  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  nearly  four  years  before  the  celebrated 
discovery  by  Chevalier  Verendrye  of  the  Bighorn 
Range,  far  to  the  north/ 

French  Jesuits  had  operated  in  the  Illinois  coun- 
try as  early  as  Marquette,  but  their  ministrations 
were  in  Indian  villages  along  the  Illinois  River.  In 
1699  the  Sulpicians  opened  a  mission  at  Cahokia, 
on  the  Mississippi,  and  the  year  following  the  Jesu- 
its removed  their  establishment  to  the  neighboring 
Kaskaskia.^  Fort  Chartres  (1720) — a  stout  fortress, 
designed  to  check  growing  English  encroachments 
on  the  Ohio  and  the  Mississippi — St.  Philippe  (1723), 
and  Prairie  du  Rocher  (1733)  followed  in  due  course.' 

*  This  record  of  French  exploration  in  the  southwest  is  based 
chiefly  on  documents  in  Margry,  Dccouvertes,  VI. 

'  Thwaites,  Jesuit  Relations,  LXV.,   101-105,   263. 

'  So  Moses,  Illinois;  Wallace,  Illinois  and  Louisiana  under 
French  Rule;  Mason,  Chapters  from  Illinois  History.  But  the 
chronology  is  still  in  some  confusion. 


1746]  LOUISIANA    AND    ILLINOIS  85 

By  the  time  of  the  founding  of  New  Orleans,  the 
little  group  of  Illinois  settlements  had  from  their 
productive  soil,  facilities  of  transportation,  and 
location  at  the  centre  of  profitable  Indian  trade, 
already  grown  into  a  neighborhood  of  great  impor- 
tance in  the  agricultural  and  commercial  develop- 
ment of  New  France.  In  17 19,  Louisiana  and  the 
Illinois  entered  upon  the  brief  period  of  "boom" 
which  was  inaugurated  by  Law's  somewhat  fantastic 
speculative  scheme.  Cahokia  and  Kaskaskia  greatly 
increased  in  size  and  importance,  eight  hundred  new 
settlers  being  imported,  chiefly  from  Canada  and 
New  Orleans,  and  placed  on  large  land  grants ;  sev- 
eral stone-mills  and  storehouses  were  constructed, 
the  habitants  were  encouraged  to  grow  tobacco,  and 
negro  slaves  were  introduced. 

Throughout  the  first  half  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury the  Illinois  became  noted  for  agricultural  prod- 
ucts, which  were  shipped  in  large  quantities  to 
Detroit  on  the  north,  Ohio  River  ports  on  the  east, 
and  southward  to  New  Orleans  and  Mobile,  whence 
they  found  their  way  to  the  West  Indies  and  Europe. 
At  Kaskaskia  the  Jesuits  maintained  an  academy; 
at  Cahokia,  the  Sulpicians  had  a  considerable  school 
for  Indian  youth;  and  Fort  Chartres  was  known  as 
"the  centre  of  life  and  fashion  in  the  West."  It  is 
recorded  that  "about  the  year  1746  there  was  a 
scarcity  of  provisions  at  New  Orleans,"  and  the 
Illinois  French  "  sent  thither,  in  one  winter,  upward 
of  eight  hundred  thousand  weight  of  flour."     In 


86  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1720 

exchange  for  their  products,  the  thrifty  Illinois 
habitants  received  many  luxuries  and  refinements 
directly  from  Europe  and  other  French  colonies — 
sugar,  rice,  indigo,  cotton,  manufactured  tobacco, 
and  goods  of  like  character  —  and  these  interior 
settlements  were  long  regarded  as  the  garden  of 
New  France.' 

At  first  the  Illinois  settlements  were  governed 
from  Canada,  although  their  trade  relations  were 
naturally  more  intimate  with  Louisiana  than  with 
the  lower  St.  Lawrence.  Indeed,  despite  the  pro- 
tests of  the  Quebec  officials,  who  were  alarmed  over 
this  diversion  of  the  Mississippi  trade,  there  was 
now  but  slight  connection  with  Canada.  The  old 
portage  routes  connecting  the  divergent  drainage 
systems  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  Mississippi 
had  fallen  into  comparative  disuse.  Several  causes 
contributed  to  this  result:  the  reduction  of  trading- 
posts  on  the  Great  Lakes,  under  the  economical  pol- 
icy of  Governor  Callieres's  administration ;  the  con- 
tinued hostility  of  the  Fox  Indians  in  Wisconsin ; ' 
the  physical  hardships  of  these  routes;  but  in  large 
measure  the  careful  fostering  of  the  more  convenient 
southern  trade  and  the  growing  bulk  of  exports. 
The  people  of  the  Illinois  henceforth  looked  upon 

'  Contemporary  descriptions  in  A'.  Y.  Docs.  Ret.  to  Col. 
Hist.,  IX.,  891;  Du  Pratz,  Louisiana,  301-303;  Pittman, 
Present  State  of  European  .Settlements  on  the  Mississippi  {ijjo), 
42,  43,  55;  Charlevoix,  in  Journal  Historique  (1744),  394- 
396. 

'  See  documents  in  Wis.  Hist.  Collections,  XVI.,  XVII. 


1 731]  LOUISIANA    AND    ILLINOIS  87 

the  Mississippi  as  their  natural  highway  to  the  mar- 
kets of  the  world. 

Law's  financial  project  collapsed  in  1720,  but  its 
Louisiana  branch  had  become  merged  in  the  Com- 
pany of  the  Indies,  which  continued  to  operate 
here  for  several  years  upon  a  dwindling  career. 
The  enormous  expense  of  a  long  but  successful 
war  with  the  Natchez  Indians  was  in  the  end  the 
determining  factor,  and  at  its  close  the  corpora- 
tion gladly  surrendered  its  charter  (January  23, 
173 1 ),  Louisiana  becoming  once  more  a  royal  prov- 
ince/ 

In  the  mean  while  both  Louisiana  and  the  Illinois 
had  materially  prospered,  chiefly  as  the  result  of 
improved  navigation  facilities,  and  stimulation  of 
business  and  manufacturing  enterprise,  increased 
immigration,  and  the  efforts  made  to  broaden  not 
only  the  area  of  tillage  but  the  variety  of  crops. 
From  Louisiana  rice,  indigo,  and  tobacco  were  ex- 
ported; fig-trees  from  Provence  and  orange-trees 
from  Santo  Domingo  had  become  acclimated;  there 
was  also  a  small  acreage  of  cotton;  the  population 
along  the  lower  Mississippi  had  increased  from  some 
six  hundred  whites  and  a  score  of  negroes  to  five 
thousand  whites  and  two  thousand  blacks.  As  a 
province,  Louisiana,  in  the  leisurely  fashion  of  the 
subtropics,  had  continued  to  thrive.  But  in  Illinois 
the  easy-going  habitants — farmers,  hunters,  traders 
by  turn,  with  a  strong  admixture  of  unprogressive 
'  Margry,  Dicouvertes,  V.,  590. 


88  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1731 

Indian  blood  —  soon  forgot  the  feverish  and  un- 
wonted energy  of  artificial  stimulus.  The  villages 
of  the  mid -country  resumed  their  natural  status  of 
sleepy  little  fur-trade  and  mission  stations,  and  thus 
remained  until  the  downfall  of  New  France. 


CHAPTER   VI 

RIVALRY    WITH    ENGLAND 
(1715-1745) 

THE  War  of  the  Spanish  Succession,  in  America 
called  Queen  Anne's  War  (1702-1713),  had 
greatly  impoverished  France.  Louis  XIV.  died  in 
17 1 5,  overwhelmed  with  disappointment,  for  the 
wide-spreading  empire  which  he  had  reared  was 
now  shorn  on  every  hand,  and  numerous  domestic 
calamities  faced  the  throne.  Immediately  follow- 
ing his  death  the  country  came  under  the  practical 
control  of  the  benign  Cardinal  Fleury,  preceptor  to 
the  young  king,  and  in  1726  he  was  made  actual 
minister.  Early  in  his  career  commercial  restric- 
tions were  largely  removed,  to  the  immediate  benefit 
of  French  commerce.  We  have  already  seen^  that 
earnest,  although  economically  unsound,  measures 
had  been  taken  for  the  development  of  Louisiana; 
Guadeloupe,  Martinique,  and  the  French  half  of 
Hayti  also  felt  new  life.  In  Canada,  ice-bound  half 
the  year  and  with  a  roving  population  that  lived 
largely  on  the  fur-trade,  feudalism  seemed  an  ill- 
nurtured   exotic ;  ^  but   Louisiana   and    these  West 

'See  chap,  v.,  above.  'See  chap,  viii.,  below. 

VOL.  vn. — 8  80 


QO  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1715 

Indian  possessions  were,  with  their  subtropical  cli- 
mate, particularly  adapted  to  the  profitable  use  of 
slave  labor  and  to  the  paternal  form  of  govern- 
ment which  France  employed  alike  at  home  and  in 
the  colonies.  Coffee  and  sugar  from  the  French 
colonies  began  to  drive  from  the  European  markets 
the  productions  of  the  rival  English  islands  of 
Jamaica,  Barbadoes,  and  their  smaller  neighbors; 
England  was  also,  for  a  time,  losing  ground  along 
the  Mediterranean,  in  the  Levant,  and  in  far-off 
India.  French  merchant  shipping  grew  from  three 
hundred  vessels,  at  the  time  of  Louis's  death,  to 
eighteen  hundred  in  1735.* 

While  Fleuri  was  dominating  France,  the  English 
prime  -  minister  was  Sir  Robert  Walpole.  Both 
statesmen  strongly  desired  peace  in  western  Europe, 
and  in  the  face  of  many  difficulties  long  maintained 
it.  But  there  were  irresistible  forces  at  work,  largely 
originating  in  differences  of  temperament  between 
the  two  peoples,  which  tended  to  neutralize  their 
efforts  at  a  good  understanding.  France  and  Eng- 
land were  engaged  in  a  long-standing  rivalry  for  the 
possession  of  lands  over-seas,  which  might  be  col- 
onized and  thereby  made  to  assist  in  the  develop- 
ment of  national  commerce.  Naval  strength  is  the 
predominant  factor  in  colonizing  and  the  pushing 
of  colonial  trade.  The  mistress  of  the  seas  con- 
trols the  ocean  lanes,  can  keep  open  against  all 
comers  the  necessary  lines  of  communication  be- 

'  Mahan,  Influence  of  Sea  Power,  243. 


1735]  RIVALRY    WITH    ENGLAND  91 

tween  the  colonies  and  the  mother-land,  and  in 
need  can  defend  colonial  coasts.* 

England,  more  clearly  than  France,  recognized 
this  principle,  and  in  a  measure  acted  upon  it. 
Her  perception  had  not  at  the  time  of  our  narrative 
attained  to  a  thorough  understanding;  her  efforts 
were  lacking  in  continuity  and  cohesion,  and  much 
stupidity  was  sometimes  displayed  by  her  naval  and 
military  boards;  but,  impelled  in  great  measure  by 
the  necessities  of  her  insular  position,  she  did  much 
better  than  France,  whose  statesmen  were  so  steeped 
in  the  back-door  turmoil  of  continental  dynastic 
bickerings  that  they  often  quite  lost  sight  of  their 
colonies  and  the  sea.  The  result  was  that  soon  her 
neglected  navy  had  shrunk  to  half  the  strength 
of  that  of  Great  Britain,  ill-manned  and  ill-equipped 
as  the  latter  generally  was ;  and  complications  arose 
for  which  France  was  unprepared  and  the  reasons 
for  which  were  not  always  at  once  comprehended 
by  her  leaders. 

English  trade  rivalry  among  the  tribes  of  both 
the  Ohio  and  the  upper  Great  Lakes  early  became  a 
serious  matter  with  the  officials  and  merchants  of 
New  France,  and  we  find  frequent  references  to  it  in 
the  French  documents  of  the  period.^  Not  only  did 
wandering  French  and  English  traders  visit  and  tam- 

'  On  England's  policy  at  this  period,  cf.  Greene,  Provincial 

America  {Am.  Nation,  VI.) ,  chaps,  vii.,  xvi. 

'  N.  Y.  Docs.  Rel.  to  Col.  Hist.,  Index;  also  Wis.  Hist.  Collec- 
tions, XVI.,  XVII. 


92  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1686 

per  with  each  other's  Indians ;  but,  as  pointed  out  in  a 
previous  chapter,*  there  was  much  smuggHng  across 
the  lines — French  merchants  obtaining  low-priced 
goods  from  New  York  and  Albany;  Englishmen 
purchasing  peltries  from  French  dealers,  and  even 
directly  from  c  our  ears  de  hois  who  operated  in  the 
region  of  Mackinac  and  Sault  Ste.  Marie  and  sur- 
reptitiously sought  the  English  market.  In  1724 
it  was  affirmed  by  a  careful  observer^  that,  con- 
trary to  law,  Albany  merchants,  instead  of  ex- 
clusively patronizing  tribes  allied  to  the  English, 
were  obtaining  four-fifths  of  their  skins  "from  the 
French  of  Mont  Royall  and  Canada";  and  several 
English  traders  were  prosecuted  and  punished  for 
this  serious  offence. 

The  issue  relative  to  the  proprietorship  of  the 
trans-Alleghany  region  was  soon  raised  by  English 
colonial  officials.  In  1686  Denonville  reported  to 
Versailles  that  letters  written  to  him  by  Governor 
Dongan  of  New  York  "will  notify  you  sufficiently 
of  his  pretensions  which  extend  no  less  than  from 
the  lakes,  inclusive,  to  the  South  Sea.  Missilimak- 
inac  is  theirs.  They  have  taken  its  latitude;  have 
been  to  trade  there  with  our  Outawas  and  Huron 
Indians,  who  received  them  cordially  on  account  of 
the  bargains  they  gave."  Denonville  pleads  for 
definite  information  from  the  court,  relative  to  the 

•See  chap,  iv.,  above. 

'Colden,  "Memoir  on  the  Fur  Trade,"  in  .V.  Y.  Docs.  Rel.  to 
Col.  Hist.,  v.,  726-733. 


1724]  RIVALRY    WITH    ENGLAND  93 

French  claims,  based  on  "  a  great  many  discoveries 
that  have  been  made  in  this  country,  with  which 
our  registers  ought  to  be  loaded."  ^  As  usual,  how- 
ever, nothing  was  then  done  to  check  the  fast-open- 
ing bud  of  English  aspirations.  Versailles  waited 
until  it  had  grown  into  a  stout  tree. 

By  the  close  of  the  first  quarter  of  the  eighteenth 
century  Englishmen  were  conducting  a  profitable 
but  adventurous  fur-trade  upon  the  upper  lakes  and 
upon  the  Wabash  and  elsewhere  throughout  the 
Ohio  basin,  even  as  far  south  as  the  Creek  towns 
on  the  sources  of  the  Tennessee.  Virginia  and 
Pennsylvania  were  also  beginning  to  exhibit  inter- 
est in  their  own  overlapping  transmontane  claims. 
It  had  always  been  asserted  that  the  charters  of  the 
coast  colonies  carried  their  bounds  far  into  the 
hinterland ;  but  in  an  earlier  period  the  contention 
seemed  idle,  for  the  west  was  not  then  needed. 
Now  that  their  citizens  were  creeping  over  the 
Alleghanies  and  meeting  opposition  on  western 
waters,  it  seemed '  worth  while  formally  to  deny 
French  ownership  of  the  West.  The  king  was,  in 
1 72 1,  requested  by  the  Lords  of  Trade,  on  the  recom- 
mendation of  Governor  Keith  of  Pennsylvania,  to 
"  fortify  the  passes  on  the  back  of  Virginia" ;  also  to 
build  forts  upon  the  Great  Lakes,  in  order  to  "  in- 
terrupt the  French  communication  from  Quebec 
to  the  River  Mississippi."  ^     But  England  herself 

^N.  Y.  Docs.  Rel.  to  Col.  Hist.,  IX.,  297. 
'  Ihid.,  v.,  624,  625. 


94  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1729 

was  as  yet  in  no  hurry;  she  could  afford  to  play  a 
waiting  game.  Outside  of  the  official  class,  the  West 
was  to  tide-water  provincials  but  a  misty  region; 
hence,  for  a  generation  longer,  the  rival  forest  traders 
were  allowed  to  fight  it  out  among  themselves. 

In  1729,  however,  an  official  step  towards  strength- 
ening the  French  position  was  taken  by  the  chief 
engineer  of  New  France,  Chaussegros  de  Lery,  at 
the  head  of  a  small  military  reconnaissance  which, 
during  a  lull  in  Iroquois  opposition,  proceeded  to  the 
Ohio  over  the  Chautauqua  portage,  and  surveyed 
the  river  down  to  the  mouth  of  the  Great  Miami. 
Up  to  this  time  the  French,  familiar  with  the 
country  eastward,  had  not  penetrated  much  farther 
to  the  northwest  than  the  shores  of  lakes  Superior 
and  Nepigon.  In  common  with  the  English,  how- 
ever, they  were  showing  a  renewed  interest  in  seek- 
ing the  supposititious  waterway  through  the  Amer- 
ican continent  that  should  more  closely  unite  Eu- 
rope with  China  and  India.*  Between  17 19  and 
1747  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company,  reluctantly 
spurred  by  popular  demand,  made  several  half- 
hearted attempts  to  discover  the  Northwest  Passage, 
which  many  thought  to  emerge  from  the  western 
shore  of  Hudson  Bay. 

During  the  same  period  the  explorers  of  New 
France  busied  themselves  with  similar  projects. 
In  1720  the  Jesuit  traveller  and  historian,  Father 
Charlevoix,  was  despatched  from  France  on  a  tour 

'  See  chap,  iv.,  above. 


1747]  RIVALRY    WITH    ENGLAND  95 

of  observation  with  this  end  in  view.  After  visit- 
ing the  Mississippi  Valley  and  talking  with  trad- 
ers and  Indians,  he  did  not  think  a  continuous 
waterway  practicable,  but  recommended  to  the 
court  two  trade-routes  across  the  continent.  One 
of  these  was  to  result  from  an  exploration  of  the 
Missouri  to  its  source,  thence  reaching  the  Pacific 
by  means  of  some  west-flowing  river  ^ — the  identical 
plan  which  Thomas  Jefferson  proposed  to  George 
Rogers  Clark  in  1783,  and  which  President  Jeffer- 
son successfully  inaugurated  twenty  years  later 
through  the  agency  of  Meriwether  Lewis  and  Clark's 
younger  brother  William.^  The  other  plan  was  to 
establish  a  line  of  posts  among  the  Sioux  of  the 
plains,  and  thus  creep  into  and  across  the  interior. 
This  latter  project  was  adopted ;  but  nothing  further 
resulted  than  the  erection  (1727)  of  a  post  on  Lake 
Pepin,  on  the  upper  Mississippi,  which  was  soon 
abandoned  owing  to  a  fresh  outbreak  of  the  hostile 
Foxes,  who  held  the  Fox-Wisconsin  waterway.^ 

About  the  time  of  the  abandonment  of  this 
scheme,  the  commander  at  Lake  Nepigon  was 
Pierre  Gaultier  de  Varenne,  Sieur  de  la  V6rendrye. 
His  imagination  fired  by  the  optimistic  reports  of 

^Charlevoix,  Journal  Historique,  300,  301,  translated  in 
Wis.   Hist.    Collections,    XVI.,    417,   418;    Margry,   Decouvertes, 

VI.,  531-535- 

^  Documentary  material  in  Thwaites,  Original  Journals  of  the 
Lewis  and  Clark  Expedition,  vii.,  193.  See  Channing,  Jeffcr- 
sonian  System  {Am.  Nation,  XII.). 

^Margry,  Decouvertes,  VI.,  542-566;  Wis.  Hist.  Collections, 
XVII. 


96  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1728 

Indians,  whose  notions  of  geography  were  often 
quite  vague,  he  conceived  a  plan  for  seeking  the 
Pacific  by  means  of  the  vast  net- work  of  lakes  and 
rivers  that  stretches  westward  from  Lake  Superior 
by  way  of  Pigeon  River,  Lake  of  the  Woods,  Rainy 
Lake  and  River,  Lake  Winnipeg,  the  Assiniboin, 
and  the  Saskatchewan.  His  report  that  the  ocean 
might  thus  be  reached  within  five  hundred  leagues 
from  Lake  Superior*  won  powerful  official  support; 
he  was  accordingly  granted  a  monopoly  of  the  fur- 
trade  north  and  west  of  Lake  Superior,  upon  the 
supposed  profits  of  which  he  was  to  undertake  ex- 
tensive exploring  expeditions. 

V6rendrye  suffered  from  the  customary  fickleness 
of  court  patronage,  and  through  the  machinations 
of  rivals  soon  found  himself  neglected  and  a  bank- 
rupt. Nevertheless,  with  marvellous  energy  and 
perseverance,  he  had  by  the  year  1738  established 
what  was  officially  styled  the  "  Post  of  the  Western 
Sea,"  a  line  of  six  "forts  built  of  stockades  .  .  .  that 
can  give  protection  only  against  the  Indians  .  .  .  and 
trusted  generally  to  the  care  of  one  or  two  officers, 
seven  or  eight  soldiers,  and  eighty  engages.  From 
them  the  English  movements  can  be  watched " 
and  "  the  discovery  of  the  Western  Sea  may  be  ac- 
complished." These  outposts  were  St.  Pierre  on 
Rainy  Lake,  St.  Charles  on  Lake  of  the  Woods, 
Maurepas  at  the  mouth  of  the  Winnipeg,  Bourbon 

'Text  in  Svilte,  Histoire  des  Canadiens-Franfais,  VI.,  145- 
150- 


1743]  RIVALRY    WITH    ENGLAND  97 

on  the  east  shore  of  Lake  Winnipeg,  La  Reine  on 
the  Assiniboin,  and  Dauphin  on  Lake  Manitoba; 
to  them  Verendrye's  successor,  St.  Pierre,  added 
La  Jonquiere  on  the  upper  Saskatchewan,  near  the 
site  of  the  modem  Calgary.  It  was  from  La  Reine 
that  V6rendrye's  son  Pierre,  known  as  the  chevalier, 
made  a  famous  expedition  which  resulted,  on  New 
Year's  Day,  1743,  in  sighting  the  Bighorn  Range,  a 
hundred  and  twenty  miles  east  of  Yellowstone*  Park, 
long  accounted  the  first  view  of  the  Rockies  by 
white  men.^ 

These  explorations  in  the  northwest,  accompa- 
nied as  they  were  by  incidents  which  would  make  a 
thrilling  volume  of  wilderness  adventure,  furnished  a 
stirring  object-lesson  for  the  young  men  of  France, 
They  served  a  still  stouter  purpose  in  preserving 
the  life  of  the  colony.  During  much  of  the  time 
from  1682  until  the  British  conquest,  and  especially 
after  17 12,  the  most  important  trade-route  to  the 
Mississippi,  the  Fox-Wisconsin  waterway,  was  closed 
to  the  French,  owing  to  the  "bad  heart"  of  the  Fox 
Indians  and  their  allies.  At  times  the  Foxes  en- 
tered into  compacts  which,  combined  with  the 
Iroquois  barrier  on  the  upper  Ohio,  practically 
closed  the  Mississippi  from  the  north  and  east. 
Numerous  and  costly  military  expeditions  against 


*  Parkman,  "Discovery  of  Rocky  Mountains,"  in  Atlantic 
Monthly,  LXI.,  783-793.  Margry's  account,  in  Statutes,  Docu- 
ments, and  Papers  .  .  .  respecting  .  .  .  Boundaries  of  the  Province 
of  Ontario,  68-80. 


98  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1712 

this  formidable  enemy  were  of  small  avail.  The 
fur-trade  of  the  West,  so  essential  to  the  life  of  New 
France,  was  nearly  paralyzed;  the  people  of  the 
Illinois,  on  the  farther  side  of  the  barrier,  had  be- 
come almost  exclusively  patrons  of  the  southern 
trade;  profitable  fur-bearing  animals  had  retreated 
from  the  hunters  farther  and  farther  inland;  and 
now  little  was  left  to  the  forest  merchants  of  Quebec 
and  Montreal  save  the  peltries  snatched  from  the 
barren  lands  of  the  far  northwest.^ 

For  a  generation  the  "  Post  of  the  Western  Sea  " 
caused  grave  concern  among  the  "smug  ancient 
gentlemen"  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company.  The 
southern  half  of  the  enormous  territory  which 
Charles  had  so  freely  granted  to  them  was  dominated 
by  the  adventurous  French,  who  not  only  alienated 
the  confidence  of  the  tribesmen,  but  won  the  native 
trade.  Rivalry  such  as  this  was  farther  -  reach- 
ing than  when  the  Canadians  held  the  shore  forts 
upon  the  bay  and  attempted  to  operate  them  from 
the  sea,  for  the  latter  were  now  in  their  element  as 
wilderness  rangers.  Moreover,  the  men  of  France 
now  had  at  their  back  a  chain  of  forts  quite  stout 
enough  for  immediate  needs,  stretching  across  the 
continental  interior  like  a  gigantic  letter  T,  its 
horizontal  bar  a  transcontinental  system  extending 
from  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  to  the  head-waters 
of   the   Saskatchewan,    and   its   stem   commanding 

'Documents  in  Wis.  Hist.  Collections,  XVI.,  XVII.,  throw 
new  li^ht  on  the  Fox  war. 


1739]  RIVALRY    WITH    ENGLAND  99 

the  entire  length  of  the  Mississippi  River  and  its 
approaches.  The  outlook  for  the  English  was  not 
encouraging. 

Spain's  large  colonial  interests  in  Florida,  Mexico, 
South  America,  Cuba,  Porto  Rico,  and  the  eastern 
half  of  Hayti  caused  her  to  maintain  a  large  navy. 
But  her  colonial  policy  was  excessively  narrow  and 
arrogant;  her  colonists,  forbidden  to  trade  with 
others  than  herself,  covertly  encouraged  English 
smuggling,  which  developed  into  acts  of  the  most 
daring  and  often  insolent  character.  Urged  by  her 
merchants,  who  saw  their  West  Indian  trade  en- 
dangered by  freebooting  British  rivals,  Spain  now 
adopted  an  overbearing  and  insulting  attitude  tow- 
ards English  ships,  which  often  were  stopped  and 
searched  on  the  high  seas,  with  occasional  mal- 
treatment of  officers  and  crews.  This,  and  Spain's 
intrigues  to  regain  Gibraltar,  led  to  violent  popular 
clamor  in  Great  Britain,  which,  skilfully  manipu- 
lated by  the  parliamentary  opposition,  of  which 
William  Pitt  was  one  of  the  leaders,  Walpole  found 
himself  unable  to  ignore,  and  against  his  counsel 
war  was  declared  on  October  19,  1739.* 

Fleury's  sincere  desire  for  peace  with  England 
wrought  good  results  to  both  nations,  so  long  as 
Walpole  could  keep  him  apart  from  Spain.  It 
developed,  however,  that  six  years  previous  there 
had  been  signed  a  secret  family  compact,  by  which 

^Gentleman's  Magazine  (1739),  551;  5.  C.  Hist.  Collections, 
IV.,  20. 


lOO  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1732 

the  two  Bourbon  courts  agreed  to  support  each 
other  in  case  of  the  outbreak  of  war.  Under  this 
arrangement  it  now  became  necessary  for  France, 
reluctant  though  she  was,  with  all  her  forces  to 
assist  Spain  by  land  and  sea.  While  the  former 
was,  therefore,  not  nominally  a  party  to  the  struggle, 
she  became  so  to  all  intents  and  purposes.  Thus 
the  peaceful  dreams  of  Walpole  and  Fleuri  were 
interrupted  by  a  current  of  events  which  they  had 
vainly  sought  to  stem. 

Two  years  later  the  English  peace  minister  was 
driven  from  power  by  men  who,  like  Pitt — his  star 
rising  while  Walpole 's  waned — felt  that  there  should 
be  no  further  hesitation  to  compass  that  defeat  of 
the  Bourbons  which  was  essential  to  Great  Britain's 
growth  as  an  imperial  power;  and  who  were  be- 
ginning to  perceive  that  such  growth  must  largely 
be  based  upon  control  of  the  sea.  A  British  ulti- 
matum called  on  Spain  to  renounce  the  right  of 
searching  vessels,  and  expressly  to  acknowledge  the 
English  claims  in  North  America  —  among  these 
latter  being  one  relating  to  the  undetermined  south- 
ern boundary  of  the  colony  of  Georgia,  which  had 
been  but  recently  established  (1732)  to  the  north  of 
Florida.* 

Spain  promptly  despatched  to  the  West  Indies, 
which  both  sides  had  selected  as  the  logical  battle- 
ground, a  considerable  fleet  convoyed  by  a  French 
squadron  of  twenty-two  ships,  for  the  presence  of 

'5.  C.  Hist.  Collections,  I.,  203;  Stevens,  Georgia,  I.,  140-160. 


i74i]  RIVALRY    WITH    ENGLAND  loi 

which  Fleuri  made  weak  excuses.  England's  grim 
reply  was  a  general  pillaging  of  the  French  merchant 
marine  upon  the  Atlantic,  without,  however,  formally- 
declaring  war  against  the  Versailles  government. 
She  had  stolen  a  march  on  the  enemy,  by  sending 
to  the  scene  of  action  a  fleet  under  Admiral  Edward 
Vernon,  in  the  last  week  of  July,  three  months  before 
the  declaration  of  war;  its  instructions  being  "to 
destroy  the  Spanish  settlements  in  the  West  Indies 
and  to  distress  their  shipping  by  every  method 
whatever." 

It  had  been  the  hope  of  Vernon,  with  his  squad- 
ron of  six  ships,  to  find  rich  prizes  in  the  Spanish- 
American  ports.  But  when  (November  21)  he 
easily  captured  and  destroyed  Porto  Bello,  the 
booty  amounted  to  the  trivial  value  of  $10,000; 
for  the  Spanish,  also  scenting  trouble,  had  before 
Vernon's  arrival  hurried  off  their  treasure. 

The  reinforcements  in  ships  and  men,  which 
Vernon  had  asked  for,  were  cheerfully  sent.  The 
English  colonies  north  of  Carolina  had  been  called 
upon  to  assist,  and  owing  to  the  current  enthusiasm 
they  did  so  with  surprising  alacrity.  The  con- 
junction was  effected  at  Port  Royal,  in  Jamaica, 
early  in  January,  1741.  Thereafter  the  expedi- 
tion— without  doubt  the  largest  armed  force  thus 
far  seen  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  much  in  excess 
of  the  need — was  unfortunately  to  have  two  lead- 
ers ;  Vernon  remained  as  admiral  of  the  fleet,  now 
numbering  thirty   fighting  vessels,   but   Brigadier- 


I02  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1741 

General  Thomas  Wentworth  commanded  the  troops, 
nine  thousand  in  number. 

The  new-comers  had  suffered  greatly  on  the  voy- 
age, from  bad  weather  and  sickness,  and  through- 
out the  campaign  there  was  a  heavy  mortality  from 
the  wretched  sanitary  conditions.  March  3  the 
forces  again  landed  before  Cartagena;  but  after  a 
long  and  weak  siege,  during  which  the  troops  suf- 
fered greatly  from  mismanagement  and  the  lead- 
ers continually  wrangled,  the  demoralized  army 
was  (April  17)  withdrawn  in  the  fleet  to  England. 
The  grewsome  horrors  of  the  expedition,  and  the 
unfortunate  quarrel  of  the  commanders,  have  been 
preserved  for  us  in  literature  by  Smollett,^  a  sup- 
porter of  Wentworth,  and  then  a  surgeon  on  one 
of  the  ships  of  the  line.  Later  (1746),  Vernon  was 
dismissed  the  service,  his  choleric  temper  having 
led  him  into  an  open  quarrel  with  the  admiralty 
board. 

It  had  been  the  intention  of  the  government  to 
aid  Vernon  with  a  co-operating  expedition.  For 
this  purpose  Commodore  George  Anson  was  ordered 
from  the  west  coast  of  Africa,  where  for  three  years 
he  had  been  protecting  English  trade  against  French 
assaults,  to  round  Cape  Horn  and  join  Vernon  on 
the  Pacific  side  of  the  Panama  isthmus.  Anson's 
little  squadron   of  six  ships,   with  the  usual  poor 

^Roderick  Random,  chaps,  xxviii.-xxxiii.  For  technical  ac- 
count of  Vernon's  expedition,  see  Clowes,  Royal  Navy,  III., 
52-80. 


i74i]  RIVALRY    WITH    ENGLAND  103 

equipment  and  meagre  force  of  imseasoned  and  un- 
drilled  sailors,  met  with  a  severe  storm  at  the  cape. 
His  own  ship,  the  Centurion,  was  the  only  one 
neither  destroyed  nor  driven  back. 

Arriving  at  Juan  Fernandez  on  June  11,  1741,  the 
Centurion  had  but  thirty  men  and  officers  fitted 
for  duty.  Later  she  was  joined  by  the  storm- 
wracked  Gloucester  and  Trial.  The  roll  of  the  de- 
pleted squadron  now  revealed  the  fact  that  out 
of  the  961  persons  who  had  originally  shipped  on 
these  three  vessels,  636  had  died,  leaving  but  325 
men  and  boys,  an  insufficient  crew  for  the  Centurion 
itself.  Nevertheless,  with  this  starveling  company, 
Anson  ravaged  the  west  coast  of  South  America, 
and  would  have  joined  Vernon  at  Panama  but  for 
receipt  of  news  of  the  latter 's  discomfiture. 

The  Trial  and  Gloucester  had  soon  to  be  abandoned 
as  unseaworthy.  The  commodore  was  now  left 
with  the  Centurion,  manned  by  but  200  men,  at 
last,  however,  efficient  from  long  and  careful  train- 
ing. Imbued  by  the  spirit  of  Drake  and  Hawkins, 
he  conceived  the  bold  plan  of  striking  out  into 
the  Pacific,  with  a  view  of  intercepting  the  Spanish 
galleon  yearly  trading  between  Manila  and  Acapulco. 
After  a  tempestuous  voyage  he  came  upon  his 
quarry  near  the  Philippines,  and  challenged  her. 
The  Spaniard  was  heavily  laden  with  merchandise, 
and  her  crew  of  600  men  were  unskilled,  so  that  she 
readily  succumbed  (June  20,  1743)  and  yielded  up 
her  cargo,  worth  $2,500,000. 


I04  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1743 

The  victorious  Anson  at  once  started  for  home 
by  way  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  Favored  by  a 
fog  which  hid  him  from  the  view  of  the  French 
Channel  fleet,  he  safely  anchored  at  Spithead 
(June  15,  1744),  having  harried  Spanish  commerce 
around  the  globe.*  England  had  at  last  good  oc- 
casion for  being  in  an  ecstasy  of  joy.  The  gallant 
sea-dogs  were  paraded  through  city  and  country 
with  bands  and  banners,  and  the  government,  which 
had  contributed  so  slightly  to  the  success  of  the 
brilliant  expedition,  made  a  rear-admiral  of  its  com- 
mander, who  in  later  wars  was,  as  I^ord  Anson,  to 
add  still  greater  lustre  to  British  arms. 

'  See  Clowes,  Royal  Navy,  III.,  320-324,  for  details  cf  Anson's 
expeditioo. 


CHAPTER  VII 

KING    GEORGE'S    WAR 
(i  743-1 748) 

THE  conflict  between  England  and  Spain  was 
soon  broken  in  upon  by  the  much  broader  War 
of  the  Austrian  Succession  (i 744-1 748).  England, 
Holland,  and  Hanover  sided  with  Maria  Theresa, 
queen  of  Hungary  and  Bohemia,  and  daughter  of 
Emperor  Charles  VI.,  who  claimed  on  his  death 
(1740)  the  successorship  to  his  domains.  On  the 
other  side,  Spain,  France,  Bavaria,  Saxony,  and 
Prussia  contended  for  a  division  of  the  empire,  and 
one  of  the  aims  of  France  was  the  acquisition  of  the 
Netherlands.  At  first  France  and  England  fought 
each  other  indirectly,  as  auxiliaries  to  rival  claim- 
ants, the  two  governments  being  nominally  at  peace. 
But  in  1743  French  machinations  so  forwarded  the 
Jacobite  intrigues  that  Prince  Charles  Stuart  was 
despatched  in  a  French  fleet  to  invade  Scotland. 
At  the  battle  of  Dettingen  (June  27),  French  and 
English  came  directly  into  deadly  clash,  and  the 
French  were  so  embittered  at  being  expelled  from 
Germany  by  English  arms  that  at  the  close  of  the 
year's  campaign  it  was  seen  that  formal  hostilities 

VOL      VII.— 9  ^05 


io6  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1744 

must  result.  March  21,  1744,  the  government  at 
Whitehall  at  last  proclaimed  war;  had  this  decision 
been  made  two  years  sooner,  doubtless  the  struggle 
might  have  correspondingly  been  shortened.  Our 
present  interest  lies  solely  in  events  which  now 
transpired  in  America,  where  the  encounter  is  known 
as  King  George's  War. 

After  the  cession  to  England  of  Newfoundland  and 
Acadia,  under  the  treaty  of  Utrecht,^ the  French 
troops  withdrew  to  Cape  Breton  (I'lle  Royale), 
which  they  contended  was  not  included  in  the 
cession ;  although  English  claims  classed  that  island 
as  a  part  of  Nova  Scotia,  from  which  it  is  separated 
by  the  narrow  strait  of  Canso,  a  waterway  about 
the  width  of  the  Hudson  River  at  New  York.  At 
the  southern  end  of  the  strait  was  the  important 
English  fishing  station  of  Canseau,  protected  by  a 
stockaded  block-house. 

Selecting  as  their  base  a  rugged  harbor  called 
Port  h  I'Anglais,  on  the  eastern  coast  of  Cape 
Breton,  the  French  gradually  erected  there  the 
fortress  of  Louisburg,  accounted  the  stoutest  strong- 
hold on  the  western  coast  of  the  Atlantic,  being 
planned  by  some  of  the  most  competent  military 
engineers  of  their  day,  and  costing  about  thirty 
million  livres,  equivalent  to  $10,000,000.  From 
the  first,  Louisburg  was  a  thorn  in  the  side  of 
New  England.  The  sea  -  fisheries  were  quite  as 
necessary  to  the  welfare  of  the  English  coast  colo- 
nists as  the  fur-trade  was  to  New  France.     In  sailing 


1744]  KING    GEORGE'S    WAR  107 

to  and  from  the  Newfoundland  banks,  New  England 
fishers  were  subject  to  serious  annoyance  from  the 
French;  officials  from  the  fort  were  continually  in- 
flaming habitants  and  savages  in  Acadia,  and  en- 
couraging assaults  on  English  colonists  in  the 
peninsula;  at  Louisburg,  Indian  war-parties  return- 
ing from  murderous  and  devastating  raids  on  the 
English  borderers  in  Maine  were  cajoled  and  re- 
warded— indeed,  they  were  often  led  by  French 
partisans;  moreover,  Cape  Breton  was  held  to  be 
English  territory.  There  was,  however,  some  com- 
pensation in  the  fact  that  the  Louisburg  gan4son 
bought  a  large  share  of  their  provisions  from  Boston 
merchants,  and  a  considerable  clandestine  trade  was 
carried  on  between  individuals  of  the  rival  colonies, 
despite  the  regulations  of  both  France  and  England, 
by  which  it  was  sought  to  confine  colonial  trade  to 
vessels  carrying  their  own  flag/ 

While  Louisburg  was  being  developed  as  pro- 
tector of  the  entrance  to  Canada  and  as  a  serious 
menace  to  New  England,  New  France  was,  as  we 
have  seen  in  previous  chapters,  strengthening  her- 
self in  the  interior  of  the  continent.  Her  line  of 
forts  connecting  Louisiana  with  Canada  by  way  of 
the  drainage  systems  of  the  Mississippi,  the  Ohio, 
the  Great  Lakes,  and  the  St.  Lawrence,  was  now  well 
established ;  and  in  the  fur-bearing  wilderness  of  the 
far  northwest  the  long  "Post  of  the  Western  Sea" 
was  feeling  its  way  towards  the  Pacific  and  barring 

'Murdoch,  Nova  Scotia,  I.,  430;  Bourinot,  Cape  Breton,  31. 


io8  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1727 

to  the  south  the  operations  of  the  Hudson's  Bay 
Company/  A  new  fort  at  Niagara  was  designed  to 
overawe  England's  savage  auxiliaries,  "  the  devoring 
Iroquois";  Fort  Chambly  was  to  protect  Montreal 
from  further  inroads  by  way  of  the  now  familiar 
war  route  through  the  geological  trough  occupied 
by  the  Hudson  River  and  lakes  George  and  Cham- 
plain;  and  Fort  Frederic,  at  Crown  Point,  on  the 
west  shore  of  Lake  Champlain,  still  further  strength- 
ened this  line  of  defence.^ 

Meanwhile,  in  all  North  America,  England's  gar- 
risons aggregated  but  nine  hundred  men.^  Her 
colonists  themselves  were  in  each  province  torn  by 
dissensions,  so  that  little  was  done  save  to  rail  at 
the  French.  Governor  Burnet  of  New  York,  at  his 
own  expense,  built  a  fortified  fur-trading  post  at 
Oswego  (1727)  as  a  rival  to  Niagara;  and  it  has  been 
told  how  Massachusetts  advanced  her  firing-line 
along  the  Kennebec  frontier;*  but  further  we  find 
slight  progress  on  the  part  of  the  English  bordermen, 
between  the  treaty  of  Utrecht  and  the  opening  of 
King  George's  War.  Indeed,  it  now  seemed  to 
many  observers  quite  possible  for  New  France  to 
hem  in  her  rival  to  the  Atlantic  slope;  and  there 
were  those  among  her  master-spirits  whose  ambi- 
tion stopped  at  nothing  short  of  a  policy  of  North 
America  for  the  French  alone. 

•See  chap,  vi.,  above. 

^  Parkman,  Half-Century  of  Conflict,  II.,  chap.  xvii. 

'  Fortescue,  British  Army,  II.,  256. 

*  See  chap,  ii.,  above. 


1744]  KING    GEORGE'S    WAR  109 

Yet  there  were  certain  tendencies  that  gave  pause 
to  the  wisest  counsellors  at  Versailles.  The  British 
navy  had  shattered  the  American  commerce  of 
Spain,  and  it  seemed  likely  that  the  latter's  colo- 
nies might  follow.  The  sea-power  of  England  was 
steadily  on  the  increase.  To  be  sure,  she  had  so 
wide  a  field  of  sea  to  cover  that  her  vessels  were 
often  inadequately  equipped  and  her  crews  insuf- 
ficient; while  the  barbarous  press-gang  which  was 
employed  to  recruit  the  ranks  generally  developed 
unsatisfactory  material.  Nevertheless,  France  was 
still  weaker  in  this  respect,  and,  relatively,  her  navy 
persistently  declined.  The  possession  of  Louisburg 
was  of  enormous  strategic  importance ;  but  far-away 
Quebec  was  of  small  value  as  a  base — the  integrity 
of  the  outpost  on  Cape  Breton  depended  largely  on 
keeping  communication  open  with  the  mother-land, 
and  to  this  task  it  will  be  shown  that  the  French 
navy  was  unequal,  in  the  face  of  England's  domina- 
tion of  the  Atlantic. 

News  of  the  declaration  of  war  was  received  at 
Louisburg  by  a  French  vessel  two  months  before 
information  reached  Boston.  Governor  Duquesne 
had  thus  an  important  advantage  over  the  enemy, 
and  he  immediately  despatched  an  expedition  of 
several  hundred  soldiers  and  marines,  under  Captain 
Duvivier,  to  reduce  the  neighboring  British  stockade 
at  Canseau,  which  was  manned  by  about  eighty  ill- 
equipped  colonial  mihtia.  Surrender  promptly  fol- 
lowed  the    appearance    of   the   invaders,    and    the 


no  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1744 

prisoners  being  given  their  choice  of  retiring  within 
a  year  either  to  England  or  one  of  the  EngHsh 
colonics,  many  of  them  proceeded  in  the  autumn 
to  Boston.* 

A  like  war-party,  chiefly  composed  of  Micmac  and 
Malecite  Indians,  was  sent  against  Annapolis  (Port 
Royal),  where  Colonel  Mascarene,  governor  of  Nova 
Scotia,  with  a  small  body  of  men,  stoutly  stood  his 
ground  behind  the  old  ramparts  and  a  full  equip- 
ment of  cannon.  Duvivier  joined  the  besiegers  after 
the  capture  of  Canseau,  but  could  make  no  headway 
against  the  gallant  Huguenot.  Reinforcements  ar- 
riving fromi  New  England,  Duvivier  at  the  close  of 
September  retired  to  Louisburg,  to  be  sneered  at  and 
censured  for  mismanagement.^ 

These  attacks  on  their  Acadian  outposts  had 
greatly  exasperated  the  New-Englanders,  and  plans 
for  the  capture  of  Louisburg  were  formulated  by 
several  ingenious  persons  whose  bitterness  against 
the  French  was  far  greater  than  their  knowledge  of 
military'  science.^  Parkman  gives  credit  for  the 
adopted  scheme  to  William  Vaughn,  the  intelHgent, 
well-educated,  but  headstrong  proprietor  of  large 
fishing  interests  at  the  mouth  of  Damariscotta  River 
and  on  the  island  of  Matinicus,  off  the  Maine  coast, 
and  an  officer  in  the  attacking  force.  Pepperrell 
claimed    that    Colonel    John    Bradstreet    was    the 

'  Bourinot,  Cape  Breton,  37. 

*  Ibtd.,  37,  T,^;  Richard,  Acadia,  I.,  203-205. 

'  Parkman,  Ualj-Century  of  Conflict,  II.,  83-85. 


1745]  KING    GEORGE'S    WAR  iii 

originator  and  planner  of  the  campaign.  Documents 
of  the  period  prove  that  other  persons  also  offered 
plans  to  Governor  William  Shirley,  of  Massachusetts, 
to  whom  the  chief  credit  is  due  for  securing  aid  from 
the  provincial  assemblies  of  Massachusetts,  Rhode 
Island,  and  Connecticut,  and,  in  general,  putting 
the  scheme  on  its  feet. 

Massachusetts,  in  particular,  was  the  scene  of 
eager  enthusiasm  over  the  project.  The  enterprise 
took  on  the  nature  of  a  crusade.  Preachers  uttered 
prayers  and  sermons  inveighing  against  the  Catholi- 
cism of  the  French,  which  in  the  fervor  of  their 
bigotry  they  styled  "antichrist."  In  the  opinion 
of  Massachusetts  men,  the  Puritan  army  now  being 
raised  "  was  Israel,  and  the  French  were  Canaanitish 
idolaters";  while  the  famous  revivalist,  George 
Whitefield,  furnished  a  motto  for  the  flag  which 
savored  of  the  religious  character  of  the  undertaking 
— "Nil  desperandum  Christo  duce."  Colonies  out- 
side of  New  England  scoffed  at  it  as  a  crazy  enter- 
prise, save  that  New  York  gingerly  contributed  to 
the  extent  of  lending  from  her  ordnance  stores  ten 
eighteen-pounders.* 

After  seven  weeks  of  feverish  and  unskilful  prep- 
aration, the  crusaders  were  ready  to  sail  (March 
24,  1745).  Shirley  had  selected  as  his  lieutenant 
William  Pepperrell,  a  rich  merchant  with  less  mili- 
tary training  than  many  of  the  4270  men  who  were 

*  See  A^.   Y.  Docs.  Rel.  to  Col.  Hist.,  VI.,   284,  for  Governor 

Clinton's  letter. 


112  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1745 

placed  under  his  command;  but  he  was  popularly 
appreciated  as  a  man  of  sense  and  tact,  qualities 
which  soon  were  to  stand  him  well  in  stead.  Of  this 
motley  company  of  rustics  and  fishermen — some 
of  whom  had  been  bushrangers  on  the  Indian 
frontier  or  had  smelled  powder  on  board  New 
England  privateers  but  all  equally  guiltless  of 
regular  military  discipine  —  Massachusetts  contrib- 
uted 3300,  Connecticut  516,  and  New  Hampshire 
454 — 150  of  the  New  Hampshire  men  being  in  the 
pay  of  Massachusetts;  Rhode  Island  also  raised  150, 
but  they  arrived  on  the  scene  too  late  to  participate. 
The  naval  force,  under  Captain  Edward  Tyng,  a 
privateersman  with  some  experience  under  fire, 
consisted  of  thirteen  armed  vessels  carrying  an  ag- 
gregate of  216  guns  of  all  sorts  and  sizes,  the 
heaviest  caliber  being  twenty-two  pounders.  For 
transports,  there  were  taken  into  the  service  ninety 
fishing-boats,  in  which  the  militiamen  found  slight 
shelter  from  the  "terrible  northeast  storm"  which 
now  swept  the  Maine  coast,  and  on  the  voyage  they 
suffered  greatly  from  exposure  and  sea-sickness.^ 

Sadly  buffeted  by  wind  and  waves,  the  fleet 
gradually  assembled  in  the  port  of  Canseau.  While 
a  detachment  of  the  land  forces  were  rebuilding  the 
block-house,  Tyng  was  cruising  off  Louisburg,  and 
captured  several  French  prizes  laden  with  supplies 

'  See  MS.  diaries  of  the  period,  chiefly  preserved  in  the  hbrary 
of  the  Mass.  Hist.  Society.  See  Bourinot,  Cape  Breton,  41,  for 
lists  of  vessels  and  troops. 


I74S]  KING    GEORGE'S    WAR  113 

for  the  garrison.  The  expedition  received  on  the 
23d  a  fortunate  and  probably  essential  reinforce- 
ment. Commodore  Peter  Warren  had  been  ordered 
by  the  British  government  to  co-operate  with  Shir- 
ley "for  the  annoyance  of  the  enemy,  and  his 
Majesty's  service  in  North  America."  He  now  ap- 
peared with  four  ships — Superbe,  Mermaid,  Launces- 
ton,  and  Eltham — and  thenceforth  assisted  Pepper- 
rell — effectively,  although  occasionally  with  some 
not  unnatural  exhibitions  of  bad  temper  over  being 
obliged  to  acknowledge  the  precedence  of  a  bungling 
"Unateur  militiaman.^ 

The  arrival  of  Warren's  fleet  rendered  it  possible 
to  blockade  the  port  of  Louisburg  against  all  comers. 
While  waiting  for  the  ice  to  move  in  Gabarus  Bay, 
which  is  practically  Louisburg 's  outer  harbor,  Pep- 
perrell  managed  to  instil  into  his  command  some 
of  the  elements  of  drill;  so  that  by  April  29,  the 
day  of  the  start,  it  was  possible  for  them  roughly  to 
manoeuvre  in  battalions  of  four  or  five  hundred  men. 

The  fortress  of  Louisburg,  whose  walls  embraced 
about  a  hundred  acres,  occupied  the  greater  part  of 
an  undulating,  rocky  tongue  of  land  projecting  be- 
tween the  sea  to  the  south  and  an  inner  harbor  to 
the  north.  The  heaviest  line  of  defence,  protected 
by  four  substantial  bastions  and  ditch  and  glacis, 
was  along  the  southwest  wall,  which  stretched  for 
twelve  hundred  yards  across  from  the  harbor  well 
towards  the   ocean.     Fronting  this  wall,   and   ex- 

•  Parkman,  Half-Century  of  Conflict,  II.,  155,  158. 


114  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1745 

tending  to  the  sea-side,  lay  a  wide  expanse  of  morass, 
which  was  impassable  for  heavy  bodies  of  troops. 
The  narrow  mouth  of  the  harbor  is  strewn  with  reefs 
and  islands,  upon  the  largest  of  the  latter  being 
planted  a  strong  battery;  but  this  is  dominated  by 
Lighthouse  Point,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  en- 
trance. Westward  of  the  bay,  the  country  con- 
sists of  low,  rocky  undulations,  at  the  time  of  the 
attack  clothed  with  a  dense  growth  of  cedar,  stunted 
spruce,  and  other  evergreens;  this  rough  country, 
affording  fine  cover  for  an  enemy,  approached 
closely  to  the  west  gate.  Upon  the  south  shore  of 
the  harbor,  a  mile  away,  and  abutting  the  hills,  the 
Grand  (or  Royal)  Battery,  a  small  fortress  in  itself, 
also  commanded  the  harbor  entrance. 

Pepperrell  was  without  engineers;  he  had  a  few 
skilled  artillerists,  with  experience  on  New  England 
privateers  worrying  French  and  Spanish  commerce, 
and  Warren  lent  him  several  from  the  fleet;  but 
neither  the  general  nor  his  men  understood  the  first 
principles  of  the  arts  of  siege.  Yet  his  landing,  at 
the  head  of  Gabarus  Bay,  on  April  30  and  May  i, 
was  rather  skilfully  performed ;  the  French  outposts 
were  easily  driven  in,  batteries  were  soon  established, 
and  the  English  securely  intrenched.  The  imcouth 
but  on  the  whole  effective  movements  of  the  in- 
vaders greatly  perplexed  the  garrison,  and  appear 
from  their  strangeness  to  have  in  a  measure  un- 
nerved them.^ 

•Parkman,  Half -Century  of  Conflict,  II.,  125. 


1745]  KING    GEORGE'S    WAR  115 

The  besieged — consisting  of  fifty-six  regulars  in 
bad  condition  and  distrusted  by  their  officers,  and 
thirteen  or  fourteen  hundred  rustics,  fishermen,  and 
half-breeds  who  served  as  an  irregular  militia — acted 
throughout  as  though  taken  unawares.  Yet  some 
of  the  neighboring  Indians  had  been  in  Boston 
during  Shirley's  preparations,  and  brought  home 
early  news  of  the  impending  crusade.  The  com- 
mandant. Chevalier  Duchambon,  was,  however,  of 
too  weak  a  character  for  an  emergency  such  as  this. 
"  We  lost  precious  moments  in  useless  deliberations 
and  resolutions  no  sooner  made  than  broken," 
petulantly  writes  a  Louisburg  diarist  of  the  siege,* 
with  the  result  that  when  the  English  arrived 
nothing  had  been  done  to  withstand  them.  Within 
two  days  a  small  party  of  invaders,  practically  un- 
hampered, occupied  the  formidable  Grand  Battery, 
with  its  thirty  guns,  which  the  panic-stricken  French 
had  precipitately  deserted  on  their  approach.  This 
work,  commanding  the  inner  harbor  as  well  as  the 
fortress,  was  an  important  acquisition.' 

A  profuse  cannonading  now  ensued  on  both  sides, 
the  French  gunners  being  as  a  rule  better  marksmen 
than  their  enemies.  Occasionally  the  garrison  would 
make  a  sortie ;  but  the  officers,  apparently  not  daring 
to  trust  either  their  own  men  or  their  considerable 
force  of  Indian  allies,  would  not  allow  them  to 
venture  far  beyond  the  walls.     On  May  19  a  French 

^  Lettre  d'un  Habitant  de  Louisbourg,  in  ibid.,  App.,  288,  299. 
*  Ibid.,  116,  117;  Bourinct,  Cape  Breton,  45,  46. 


ii6  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1745 

vessel  was  captured,  laden  with  ammunition  and 
provisions,  which  were  quite  as  essential  for  the 
besiegers  as  for  the  besieged;  for  the  colonial  army- 
soon  ran  short  of  stores  of  every  description,  and 
during  the  final  three  weeks  was  threadbare,  while 
shoes  were  at  a  premium.  Camp  diseases  also 
harried  the  provincials,  and  once  (May  28)  but 
twenty-one  hundred  men  out  of  the  four  thousand 
were  fit  for  duty.' 

Fresh  arrivals  from  time  to  time  increased  War- 
ren's fleet  to  eleven  ships,  with  an  aggregate  of 
five  hundred  and  twenty  -  four  guns,^  now  quite 
sufficient  effectively  to  aid  in  the  bombardment, 
which  by  the  middle  of  June  had  laid  the  town 
in  ruins,  it  being  calculated  that  nine  thousand 
cannon-balls  and  six  hundred  bombs  had  been 
planted  within  the  walls.  In  due  time  Lighthouse 
Point  was  gained  by  the  English,  and  then  the 
Island  Battery  succumbed.  Finally,  overcome  by- 
terror,  the  inhabitants  compelled  the  garrison  to 
surrender,  which  it  did  June  16,  with  the  stipulation 
that  the  troops  should  march  out  with  arms  and 
colors,  but  that  all  within  the  fortress,  soldier  or 
civilian,  should  take  oath  not  again  to  bear  arms 
against  King  George  or  his  allies  during  the  en- 
suing twelvemonth.'     On  the   following   day  War- 

'  Parkman,  Half-Century  of  Conflict,  II.,  131. 

'  Douglass,  Summary  of  the  British  Settlements,  I.,  351. 

•  Text  of  correspondence  and  capitulation,  in  Parsons,  Pep- 
perrell,  95-99;  Collection  de  documents  relatifs  ci  I'histoire  de  la 
N ouvelle-France ,  III.,  221-226. 


1745]  KING    GEORGE'S    WAR  117 

ren's  ships  entered  the  harbor  and  Pepperrell's 
ragged  crew  marched  in  by  the  south  gate. 

The  easy  terms  of  capitulation  created  much 
dissatisfaction  among  the  colonial  troops,  who  had 
fondly  anticipated  rich  loot  in  the  sacking  of  Louis- 
burg.  It  was  impossible  wholly  to  prevent  thievery 
or  to  curb  the  iconoclasm  of  the  religious  fanatics, 
who  hacked  away  at  the  Catholic  altars  as  though  the 
breastworks  of  Satan.  But  the  marauders  found 
that  the  walled  town,  far  from  being  a  store  of 
wealth,  possessed  little  worthy  the  cupidity  of  even 
a  rustic  militiaman  whose  wardrobe  had  been  worn 
to  shreds. 

There  was  much  controversy  in  New  England  over 
the  relative  degrees  of  credit  to  be  awarded  Pepper- 
rell  and  his  troops  and  Warren  and  his  marines.  It 
was  useless,  however,  to  attempt  a  decision.  Each 
branch  of  the  service  was  essential  to  the  other. 
New  England  dash  and  recklessness,  based  on 
provincial  self  -  conceit,  were  responsible  for  the 
crusade,  and  accounted  for  the  fine  spirit  which 
throughout  characterized  this  extraordinary  per- 
formance ;  yet  without  the  co-operation  of  the  navy 
it  is  difficult  to  see  how  the  downfall  of  Louisburg 
could  have  been  secured.  Indeed,  good -luck  was 
accountable  for  not  a  small  share  of  the  victory, 
for  had  not  Louisburg  been  so  wretchedly  officered, 
and  had  not  a  long  chain  of  contributive  events 
otherwise  weakened  the  French  defence,  the  out- 
come might  readily  have  been  quite  a  different  story. 


ii8  FRANCE    IN   AMERICA  [1745 

Boston  received  the  news  by  an  express  boat,  early 
in  the  morning  of  July  3.  The  townspeople  were 
at  once  awakened  by  booming  cannon  and  clanging 
bells,  and  a  noisy  day  was  succeeded  by  a  night  of 
bonfires,  fireworks,  and  window  illumination,  follow- 
ed in  due  course  by  the  usual  day  of  thanksgiving. 
New  York  and  Philadelphia  in  turn  celebrated  in 
like  manner,  and  England  was  as  vociferous  as 
over  the  victories  of  Vernon  and  Anson.  Warren 
was  made  an  admiral;  Pepperrell,  who  had  spent 
;^io,ooo  of  his  own  fortune,  largely  in  entertaining 
his  brother-officers  at  camp,  was  created  a  baronet 
and  made  colonel  of  a  fresh  regiment  to  be  raised 
among  his  doughty  followers,  who  by  this  time  had 
earned  the  standing  of  regulars;  while  Shirley  also 
was  remembered  with  a  similar  colonelcy.  Massa- 
chusetts, having  spent  ;^i83,469  on  the  expedition, 
in  time  had  that  sum  returned  from  Whitehall,  the 
reimbursement  being  promptly  and  wisely  devoted 
to  the  redemption  of  her  wretchedly  depreciated 
paper  currency.  The  other  contributing  colonies 
were  not  forgotten  in  the  general  enthusiasm,  and 
also  secured  the  rebate  of  their  expenditures. 

Pepperrell  had  left  at  Louisburg  a  garrison  of 
twenty  -  five  himdred  men.  The  fort  was  in  so 
foul  a  state  after  the  siege  that  a  pestilence  broke 
out  during  the  winter,  which  swept  off  nearly  nine 
himdred  of  the  men,*  while  by  spring  the  majority  of 

'  Shirley  to  Newcastle,  May  10,  1746,  cited  in  Parkman,  Half- 
Century  of  Conflici,  II.,  167. 


1746]  KING    GEORGE'S    WAR  119 

the  survivors  were  in  hospital.  The  Duke  of  New- 
castle, then  prime  -  minister,  had  assured  them  of 
early  and  ample  reinforcements,  both  military  and 
naval.  In  part  fulfilment  of  this  promise,  three 
British  regiments  arrived  in  April  (1746).  Warren 
was  commissioned  as  governor,  and  the  forlorn  but 
exultant  colonists  were  sent  to  their  homes. ^ 

A  general  campaign  against  Canada  was  now 
planned  upon  lines  which  soon  became  familiar. 
A  joint  British  and  colonial  army  was  to  be  trans- 
ported up  the  St.  Lawrence  to  attack  Quebec,  while 
a  combined  land  force  was  to  strike  Montreal  by 
way  of  Lake  Champlain.  Seven  provinces,  eager 
for  the  fray,  promptly  raised  their  quota  of  a  force 
of  forty -three  hundred  militia,  but  Newcastle's 
regiments  failed  to  appear.  At  a  time  when  British 
troops  were  sorely  needed  both  in  Flanders  and 
America,  the  regiments  destined  for  the  Canadian 
campaign  were  used  in  a  vain  and  feeble  descent  on 
r Orient,  the  port  in  Brittany  where  the  French 
East  India  Company  kept  its  stores.^ 

Learning  that  Newcastle  was  breaking  faith  with 
his  colonies,  Shirley  determined  on  an  independent 
attack  on  Crown  Point.  Just  at  this  juncture, 
however,  came  an  alarming  report  that  a  great 
French  armada  was  on  the  eve  of  an  attempt  to  re- 
take Acadia  and  Louisburg  and  destroy  Boston  by 
fire.     Crown  Point  was  forgotten  in  the  wild  scramble 

*Parkman,  Half -Century  of  Conflict,  II,,  167. 
'  Fortescue,  British  Army,  II.,  259. 


I20  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1745 

to  defend  the  coast.  The  armada  had,  indeed,  reached 
American  waters ;  but,  as  if  in  answer  to  the  combined 
prayers  of  the  New  England  churches,  it  was  dis- 
persed by  a  tempest  off  the  coast  of  Nova  Scotia,  its 
half -starved  crews  returning  crestfallen  to  France.^ 

The  next  year  (1747)  a  new  French  fleet  was  as- 
sembled for  vengeance  on  the  English  colonies  in 
America;  but  Admirals  Anson  and  Warren  engaged 
the  squadron  off  Rochelle  and  utterly  vanquished  it.^ 
This  fresh  display  of  superiority  of  sea-power  prob- 
ably alone  saved  the  colonists,  for  Newcastle  gave 
them  no  further  material  assistance.  He  shipped 
to  Annapolis  three  hundred  soldiers,  half  of  whom 
died  on  shipboard,  while  many  others  deserted  to 
the  French,  who  were  keeping  Acadia  in  an  uproar. 
Massachusetts,  determined  that  the  peninsula  should 
not  be  lost  through  default,  sent  thither  a  con- 
siderable reinforcement,  which,  by  dint  of  some  sharp 
fighting  with  the  Acadian  rangers  and  their  Indian 
allies,  maintained  English  supremacy.^ 

'  Douglass,  Suminary  of  the  British  Settlements;  Longffellow, 
"Ballad  of  the  French  Fleet": 

"Oh,  Lord!  we  would  not  advise, 

But  if  in  thy  providence 
A  tempest  should  arise, 

To  drive  the  French  fleet  hence, 
And  scatter  it  far  and  wide, 

Or  sink  it  in  the  sea. 
We  should  be  satisfied. 

And  thine  the  glory  be." 

^Clowes,  Royal  Navy,  III.,   124-127. 

'  Parkman,  Half-Century  of  Conflict,  II.,    198-220;   Richard, 
Acadia,  chaps,   xi.,   xii. 


1747]  KING    GEORGE'S   WAR  121 

Meanwhile,  a  spasmodic  but  grewsome  conflict 
was  in  progress  all  along  the  international  frontier. 
Local  chronicles  abound  in  the  details  of  raids  and 
counter-raids  between  French  and  English  partisans, 
both  sides  being  freely  assisted  by  savages,  whose 
ingenious  cruelty  greatly  added  to  the  ordinary 
horrors  of  warfare.  In  one  of  the  incursions  from 
Canada,  which  had  penetrated  to  within  sight  of 
Albany,  French  and  Indians  attacked  (November 
28,  1745)  the  outpost  of  Saratoga,  a  small  stockaded 
Dutch  settlement;  thirty  persons  were  killed  and  a 
hundred  taken  prisoners.*  This  irregular  contest, 
in  which  the  aborigines  played  so  large  and  ferocious 
a  part,  did  much  to  develop  the  fighting  capacity 
and  forest  diplomacy  of  the  backwoodsmen,  and 
thus  train  them  for  still  greater  encounters.  While 
Frenchmen  were  generally  superior  in  the  art  of 
tactfully  handling  the  tribesmen  and  playing  them 
against  each  other  in  the  white  man's  interest,  at 
least  one  British  citizen  so  benefited  by  his  training 
on  the  Iroquois  border  that  he  attained  a  capac- 
ity in  this  direction  rivalling  the  shrewdest  of 
the  French.  This  was  a  nephew  of  Admiral  War- 
ren, William  Johnson,  a  young  Irish  landholder 
on  the  Mohawk  River,  to  whose  remarkable  influ- 
ence over  the  Iroquois  was  due  an  important 
share  of  the  success  of  British  arms  and  diplo- 
macy throughout  the  remainder  of  the  protracted 

^N.  Y.  Docs.  Rel.  to  Col.  Hist.,  VI.,  228;  Schuyler,  New  York, 

n.,  113-124. 

VOL.     VII    — 10 


122  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1745 

struggle  with  France  for  the  mastery  of  the  con- 
tinent.* 

In  the  northwest  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  was 
prepared  for  the  worst.  Each  agent  was  instructed 
vigorously  to  defend  his  post  against  the  French, 
and  in  the  event  of  defeat  to  "destroy  everything 
that  be  of  service  to  the  enemy,  and  make  the  best 
retreat  you  can."  ^  Their  vessel,  the  Prince  Rupert 
(one  hundred  and  eighty  tons),  was  given  letters  of 
marque  against  both  French  and  Spanish  shipping, 
and  strict  watch  was  kept  on  Davis  Straits  for 
vessels  of  the  allies.  But  the  fall  of  Louisburg 
saved  the  company  from  further  apprehension;  for 
thenceforth  England's  superiority  on  the  high  seas 
was  evident,  and  no  French  craft  could  be  spared 
for  such  northern  waters. 

Weary  of  the  long,  exhaustive,  and  apparent^ 
futile  conflict,  which  had  been  so  destructive  of  life 
and  treasure,  France  and  England  agreed  to  desist, 
in  July,  1748,  and  in  the  following  October  signed 
the  peace  of  Aix-la-Chapelle.^  By  this  agreement 
all  conquests  were  mutually  restored.  The  news  of 
the  surrender  of  Louisburg,  which  had  been  won 
and  for  two  years  retained  chiefly  by  New  Eng- 
land valor  and  blood,  caused  intense  dissatisfaction 
throughout  the  colonies,  and  tended  still  further  to 

'  Lives  by  Stone  and  Buell. 

'Instructions  to  council  at  Albany  Fort,  May  10,  1744.  i" 
Willson,  Great  Company,  258. 

'  Text  in  Chalmers,  Treaties,  I.,  424-442;  extracts  in  MacDon 
aid,  Select  Charters,  251-253. 


1748]  KING    GEORGE'S    WAR  123 

strain  their  relations  with  the    mother-land,  which 
by  this  time  were  none  too  pleasant. 

At  Whitehall  it  was  not  considered  that  the  war 
had  been  quite  in  vain,  for  France  had  been  brought 
almost  to  the  verge  of  collapse;  and  while  her  own 
cost  had  been  great,  England's  command  of  the 
ocean  had  been  strengthened  and  her  colonists  better 
fitted  for  the  giant  struggle  yet  to  come.  There 
were,  however,  those  who  read  aright  the  spirit  of 
these  independent  and  somewhat  captious  English- 
men over-seas,  and  felt  that  their  growing  strength 
but  hastened  their  emancipation  from  leading- 
strings. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE    PEOPLE    OF    NEW    FRANCE 

(1750) 

BEFORE  entering  upon  the  story  of  the  last  and 
fateful  struggle  between  France  and  England 
for  the  mastery  of  the  North  American  continent, 
it  will  be  helpful  briefly  to  study  the  people  of  the 
warring  colonics;  for  the  contest  was  not  only 
national,  it  was  largely  a  measuring  of  strength  be- 
tween social  and  political  systems  fundamentally 
opposed  to  each  other  and  unable  permanently 
to  exist  as  neighbors. 

The  climate  of  Canada  was  not  as  well  adapted 
to  the  purposes  of  seventeenth-century  colonization 
as  that  wherein  the  English  colonies  had  been 
planted.  In  our  day  of  superior  agricultural  knowl- 
edge, methods,  and  utensils,  a  new  colony  might 
soon  acquaint  itself  with  the  climate  and  soil  condi- 
tions of  the  lower  St.  Lawrence,  and  by  mastering 
the  production  problem  become  self  -  supporting. 
In  the  period  of  New  France,  however,  even  the 
most  favorably  situated  European  plantations  in 
America  had  for  several  seasons  practically  to  be 
maintained  from  the  mother-land,  and  starvation  was 

124 


i75o]  CANADIAN    PEOPLE  125 

often  imminent  in  the  midst  of  abundant  natural  re- 
sources which  the  settlers  knew  not  how  to  utilize. 
The  English  colonists,  soon  left  by  their  govern- 
ment largely  to  shift  for  themselves,  were  forced  to 
starve  or  to  dig,  and  after  some  bitter  experiences 
in  due  time  found  themselves ;  but  to  New  France  the 
harsh  climate  and  stubborn  soil  of  the  north  were 
more  serious  obstacles,  which  her  people,  paternally 
nurtured,  and  thus  lacking  initiative,  were  long  in 
overcoming. 

While  in  many  ways  the  situation  of  Quebec  was 
a  source  of  strength,*  time  came  when  there  were 
seen  to  be  certain  disadvantages  in  centring  the 
colony  at  such  distance  from  the  sea-coast.  The 
entrance  to  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  is  so  far  north- 
ward that  storms  and  ice-floes  endanger  navigation 
during  half  the  year.  Colonial  possessions  over-seas 
cannot  successfully  be  maintained  unless  the  mother- 
country  possesses  the  means  of  easy  and  frequent 
communication  with  them ;  and  their  importance  to 
the  latter  is  largely  dependent  on  their  value  as 
naval  bases.  With  the  loss  of  Newfoundland,  Cape 
Breton,  and  Acadia,  France  was  left  with  slight 
hold  upon  the  North  American  coast;  the  St. 
Lawrence  afforded  her  but  a  slender  naval  base 
compared  with  the  fine  shore  dominated  by  the 
English  colonies  to  the  south. 

The  fisheries  of  New  France  were  important;  al- 
though, quite  unlike  the  New-Englanders,  perhaps 

*  See  chap,  i.,  above. 


126  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1689 

most  of  the  deep-sea  fishers  required  government 
assistance.  Characteristically  unwilling  to  leave 
their  homes  for  inhospitable  foreign  shores,  it  was 
found  necessary  artificially  to  stimulate  the  indus- 
try/ and  many  harsh  measures  seemed  essential,  to 
make  the  situation  unpleasant  for  English  poachers ; 
yet  the  latter  were  often  able  clandestinely  to  sell 
their  cargoes  to  the  enterprising  French.^  Some- 
times Frenchmen,  however,  would  put  in  their  nets 
as  far  south  as  Cape  Cod;  and  conflicts  between 
rival  fishing  fleets  were  not  infrequent  incidents, 
tending  to  keep  alive  the  long-smouldering  sparks  of 
racial  hostility.^ 

The  fur  -  trade  was  the  most  important  of  the 
French  colonial  interests,  and  practically  a  govern- 
ment monopoly.  The  great  river  flowing  past  their 
doors,  which  drained  an  immense  and  unknown  area 
of  forested  wilderness,  peopled  with  strange  tribes 
of  wild  men,  fired  the  imagination  of  the  men  of 
New  France.  In  an  age  of  exploration,  and  them- 
selves among  the  most  inquisitive  and  adventurous 
people  of  Europe,  Frenchmen — led  by  Champlain 
himself,  who  had  the  wanderlust  within  his  veins — 
pushed  their  way  in  birch  canoes  up  the  St.  Law- 
rence and  its  great  affluents,  the  Saguenay,  the 
Ottawa,  the  Richelieu,  and  their  wide-stretching 
drainage   systems.     Soon   they   discovered,    in   the 

'Marmette.in  Canadian  Archives,  1888,  cxxxvii. 

2  Bourinot,  Cape  Breton,  31;  Murdoch,  Nova  Scotia,  430. 

'  Parkman,  Jlalf-Century  of  Conflict,  I.,   106-108. 


I750]  CANADIAN    PEOPLE  127 

heart  of  the  continent,  the  interlocking  systems 
of  the  Ohio,  the  Mississippi,  the  Winnipeg,  and  the 
Saskatchewan;  and  these  led  them  still  farther  and 
farther  afield  through  endless  chains  and  ramifica- 
tions of  glistening  waterways. 

Eastern  Canada  was  not  rich  in  peltries;  the 
growing  wariness  of  the  wild  animals  soon  led  both 
white  and  savage  hunters  ever  westward,  into  the 
darkest  recesses  of  the  wilderness,  where  were 
abundantly  found  the  finest  furs  yet  seen  by 
Europeans.  The  up-stream  movement  of  trade  and 
settlement  was  amazingly  rapid.  We  have  seen 
that  it  was  not  long  before  New  France  held  all  the 
wild  interior  between  the  Rockies  and  the  Alle- 
ghanies,  and  the  Saskatchewan  and  New  Orleans, 
with  a  thin  line  of  small,  fur-trade  stockades  and 
the  Jesuit  missions  which  formed  so  important  an 
element  in  her  plan  of  conquest.  North  of  New 
York  and  New  England,  the  international  boundary 
was  much  as  it  is  to-day,  save  for  Acadia,  which  was 
still  imdefined  and  but  nominally  under  British  rule. 

But  though  New  France  had  soon  spread  am- 
bitiously throughout  the  heart  of  the  continent,  in 
sharp  distinction  to  the  compact  and  slowly  ex- 
panding growth  of  the  English  colonies,  her  re- 
sources and  her  population  were  far  inferior.  From 
the  first,  the  court  at  Versailles  made  strenuous 
efforts  to  people  the  colony.  The  early  commercial 
monopolies,  which  dominated  New  France  until  it 
was  made  a  royal   province  in    1663,   were   under 


128  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1750 

bonds  to  induce  migration  thither/  Unlike  the 
EngHsh,  however,  the  French  have  never  been  fond 
of  colonizing.  A  complete  satisfaction  with  home 
conditions,  rendering  them  unwilling  to  look  abroad, 
is  even  in  our  day  deprecated  by  many  wise  French- 
men as  a  serious  national  weakness.  Boimties  to 
immigrants,  importation  of  tmmarried  women  to 
wed  the  superabundant  bachelors,  ostracism  for  the 
unmarried  of  either  sex,  official  rewards  for  large 
families — all  these  measures  were  freely  and  per- 
sistently adopted  by  the  French  colonial  officials. 
And  yet,  after  nearly  a  century  and  a  half,  but 
eighty  thousand  whites  constituted  the  semi-depen- 
dent and  unprogressive  population  of  Canada  and 
Louisiana,  over  a  stretch  of  territory  above  two 
thousand  miles  in  length,  against  the  million  and  a 
quarter  of  self-supporting  English  colonists,  who  for 
the  most  part  were,  from  Georgia  to  New  Hampshire, 
massed  on  the  narrow  coast  between  the  Appala- 
chians and  the  sea. 

The  government  of  New  France  was  that  of  an 
autocracy,  continually  subject  to  direction  from 
Versailles,  where  a  fickle-minded  monarch  and  a 
corrupt  court  played  fast  and  loose  with  their  often 
misguided  colony.^     The  colony  was  governed  quite 

'  Biggar,  Early  Trading  Companies  of  New  France,  95,  115, 
136. 

^  For  general  survey,  see  Gameau,  Canada  (Bell's  trans.),  I., 
book  III.,  chap.  iii. ;  Parkman,  Old  Regime,  chap.  xvi. ;  Bourinot, 
in  Const.  Hist,  of  Canada,  7-1 1,  and  "Local  Government  in 
Canada,"  in  Johns  Hopkins  University  Studies,  V.,  10-20. 


I750]  CANADIAN    PEOPLE  129 

similarly  to  a  province  in  France.  The  governor, 
generally  both  a  soldier  as  well  as  a  statesman,  and 
as  a  rule  carefully  selected,  was  in  control  of  both 
the  civil  and  military  administration — although  we 
shall  see  that  a  military  commander  was  sometimes 
introduced  as  a  coadjutor — and  reported  directly  to 
his  sovereign.  With  the  governor  were  associated 
the  intendant  and  the  bishop ;  the  former  a  legal  and 
financial  officer  intrusted  with  the  public  expendi- 
tures, exercising  certain  judicial  functions,  presiding 
over  the  council,  and  confidentially  reporting  to  the 
king,  being  regarded  as  a  check  upon  the  governor, 
with  whom  his  relations  were,  as  a  matter  of  course, 
often  strained.  The  bishop  saw  to  it  that  the  in- 
terests of  the  church  were  constantly  considered, 
and  had  a  large  body  of  supporters  in  the  parish 
priests,  who  on  their  part  exercised  a  powerful  local 
influence. 

These  three  autocrats,  who  were  the  actual  rulers, 
save  when  interfered  with  from  Versailles,  had  as- 
sociated with  them  a  body  of  resident  councillors — 
at  first  five,  later  twelve — appointed  by  the  crown, 
usually  for  life,  upon  the  nomination  of  the  governor 
and  intendant.  The  three  chief  officials,  who  of 
course  dominated  the  body,  united  with  these  men 
in  forming  the  superior  council,  which  exercised 
executive,  legislative,  and  judicial  powers,  the  only 
appeal  from  their  decisions  being  to  the  home  govern- 
ment. There  were  local  governors  at  Montreal  and 
Three  Rivers,  with  but  little  authority  or  dignity, 


I30  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1750 

for  even  warrants  for  fines  and  imprisonments  must 
be  issued  from  Quebec;  and  subordinate  courts,  es- 
tablished by  an  attorney-general  who  was  stationed 
at  the  capital,  were  to  be  found  at  all  important 
villages.  The  officers  of  justice  were  appointed 
without  regard  to  their  legal  qualifications,  being 
chosen  by  favor  from  among  the  military  men  or 
the  prominent  inhabitants. 

Local  government  was  absolutely  unknown.  No 
public  meetings  for  any  purpose  whatsoever,  even 
to  discuss  the  pettiest  affairs  of  the  parish  or  the 
market,  were  permitted  unless  special  license  be 
granted  by  the  intendant,  a  document  seldom  even 
applied  for.  "  Not  merely  was  [the  Canadian  col- 
onist] allowed  no  voice  in  the  government  of  his 
Province,  or  the  choice  of  his  rulers,  but  he  was  not 
even  permitted  to  associate  with  his  neighbors  for 
the  regulation  of  those  municipal  affairs  which  the 
central  authority  neglected  under  the  pretext  of 
managing."  *  Absolutism  and  centralization  could 
not  have  been  more  securely  intrenched. 

In  order  that  nothing  might  be  lacking  in  this 
autocratic  system,  there  was  created  by  Richelieu, 
in  the  charter  of  the  Hundred  Associates  (1627),  an 
order  of  nobility.  None  was  needed  in  so  raw  a 
colony,  where  poverty  was  the  rule,  and  democ- 
racy more  nearly  fitted  the  needs  of  the  situation; 

'  Earl  of  Durham,  Report  on  the  Affairs  of  British  North  Amer- 
ica (January  31,  1839),  16.  See  also  Parkman,  Old  Regime,  280, 
a»i. 


i7So]  CANADIAN    PEOPLE  131 

but  the  French  could  not  then  conceive  of  a  state 
of  society  without  its  noblesse,  therefore  one  was 
artificially  produced/  Many  of  the  military  officers 
who  came  out  with  their  regiments  belonged  to  the 
minor  noblesse  of  France;  and,  as  an  inducement 
to  stay  in  New  France  when  their  terms  expired, 
they  were  given  as  seigniories  large  tracts  of  land 
along  the  river  and  lake  fronts.  Sometimes  the 
seigniories  were  uninhabited  save  by  Indians  and 
wild  animals;  while  upon  others  were  peasants 
(habitants),  whose  log-houses,  whitewashed  and  dor- 
mer-windowed, lined  the  common  highway  perhaps 
a  half-mile  back  from  the  water's  edge,  down  to 
which  sloped  the  fields  of  the  seignior's  tenants — • 
narrow,  ribbon-like  strips,  generally  somewhat  less 
than  eight  hundred  feet  wide,  for  these  light-hearted 
people  were  gregarious  and  loved  to  be  near  their 
neighbors  both  on  the  highway  and  the  waterway. 
Beyond  the  road  the  strips,  while  sometimes  speci- 
fied in  the  grants  as  being  ten  times  their  width  (or 
nearly  a  mile  and  a  half  long) ,  by  custom  continued  as 
far  back  into  the  hinterland  as  proved  convenient  for 
pasturage  or  for  crude  agriculture.^  Villages  of  this 
attenuated  character  often  stretched  for  miles  along 
the  shore — densely  for  a  mile  or  so  on  either  side  of  a 
parish  church,  and  then  thinning  out  in  the  midway 


*  Parkman,  Old  Regime,  chap.  xv. 

^  The  usual  grant  was  four  arpents  frontage  on  the  water  by 
ten  arpents  deep,  the  arpent  being  equivalent  to  one  hundred 
and  ninety-two  English  linear  feet. 


132  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1750 

spaces.  The  traveller  of  to-day  sees  upon  the  lower 
St.  Lawrence,  on  the  Saguenay,  and  in  picturesque 
Gasp6,  many  scores  of  communities  of  this  sort, 
survivals  of  the  French  regime. 

Now  and  then  a  seignior  was  comparatively  pros- 
perous, as  when  given  a  district  with  fishing  rights, 
assuring  him  toll  upon  his  tenants'  catch;  but  the 
lord  was  often  quite  as  poor  as  his  habitants, 
and  continually  subject  to  arbitrary  official  inter- 
ference of  every  sort,  even  as  to  agreements  between 
himself  and  his  tenants  {censitaires).  Unless  the 
seignior  cleared  his  land  within  a  stated  time  it 
was  forfeited;  and  when  he  sold  it  a  fifth  of  the 
price  obtained  was  due,  although  not  always  paid, 
to  his  feudal  superior.  The  rents  obtainable  from 
his  tenants  were  generally  in  kind,  and  apt  to  be 
trifling  —  from  four  to  sixteen  francs  annually  for 
an  ordinary  holding.  On  his  part,  the  tenant  was 
supposed  to  patronize  his  seignior's  grist-mill,  to 
bake  his  bread  (for  a  consideration)  in  the  seigniorial 
oven,  to  do  manual  labor  for  him  during  a  few  days 
each  year,  and  for  the  privilege  of  fishing  before 
his  own  door  to  present  the  seignior  with  one  fish 
in  every  eleven.  But  these  duties  were  more  nominal 
than  real,  and  often  the  tenant's  obligation  was 
satisfied  upon  the  annual  performance  of  some  petty 
act  of  ceremony — thus  did  they  with  serious  aspect 
play  at  feudalism  and  satisfy  the  pride  of  the 
lords  of  the  manor.  But  the  seignior  had  no  more 
voice  in  public  affairs  than  his  tenant — both  were 


1750]  CANADIAN    PEOPLE  133 

equally  ignored,  save  when  some  powerful  rustic 
lord  won  recognition  sufficient  to  secure  his  ap- 
pointment to  the  council.  He  might  not  work 
at  a  trade,  yet  occasionally  there  were  seigniors 
who  tilled  their  own  soil  and  whose  wives  and 
daughters  labored  by  their  side;  and  there  are  in- 
stances where  these  threadbare  noblemen,  chancing 
to  be  in  favor,  were  actually  provisioned  by  the 
king.^ 

Unable  otherwise  to  exist,  the  nobleman  generally 
took  kindly  to  the  fur-trade,  which  meant  a  roving 
life,  wherein  much  gayety  was  mingled  with  the 
roughest  sort  of  adventure.  When  unable  or  un- 
willing to  secure  a  government  license,  he  became 
a  coiireur  de  bois,  or  illegal  trader,  a  practice  sub- 
jecting him  to  the  penalty  of  outlawry;  but  the 
extreme  punishment  was  seldom  meted  out.  These 
gentlemen  wanderers  were  of  hardy  stock,  took 
kindly  to  the  wild,  uncouth  life  of  the  forest,  read- 
ily fraternized  with  the  savages,  whose  dress  and 
manners  they  often  affected,  and,  seldom  possessing 
refined  sentiments,  frequently  led  Indian  war- parties 
in  bloody  forays  upon  the  frontiers  of  the  detested 
English  —  disguised  by  grease-paint,  breech  -  clout, 
and  feathers,  and  outdoing  their  followers  in  cruelty. 
Each  was  an  experienced  partisan  leader,  with  a 
small  body  of  devoted  retainers,  who  propelled  his 
boats,  kept  his  camp,  defended  his  property  and 
person,  rallied  around  him  on  his  raids,  and  were 

*  Parkman,  Old  Regime,  257-260. 


134  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1750 

as  solicitous  as  he  himself  of  the  dignity  of  his 
caste/ 

A  full  third  of  the  population  was  engaged  in  the 
fur -trade.  From  it  the  peasants,  boatmen  {voy- 
ageurs),  trading-post  clerks,  and  trappers  won  but 
the  barest  subsistence;  many  of  the  seigniors  made 
heavy  gains,  although  others,  of  an  extremely  ad- 
venturous type,  like  La  Salle  and  Verendrye,  were 
swamped  by  the  enormous  expenses  of  the  exploring 
expeditions  which  they  undertook  in  the  effort  both 
to  extend  their  own  fields  of  operation  and  the 
sphere  of  French  influence.  The  military  officers  at 
the  wilderness  outposts  dabbled  largely  in  this  com- 
merce; indeed,  many  of  them,  like  Verendrye,  were 
given  the  trade  monopoly  of  a  considerable  district 
as  their  only  compensation.  There  are  numerous 
instances  of  such  officials  amassing  comfortable  fort- 
unes for  that  day,  and  retiring  to  France  to  spend 
them;  although  often  their  fur-trade,  legitimate  or 
illegitimate,  was  less  responsible  for  such  results  than 
the  peculation  in  which  nearly  all  of  them  were  en- 
gaged. 

For  corruption,  especially  during  the  closing  years, 
was  rampant  throughout  New  France.  The  govern- 
or and  ecclesiastics  were  seldom  under  the  ban  of 
suspicion;  but  the  intendant  was  quite  apt  to  be  a 
rare  rascal,  and  from  him  down  to  the  commandant 
of  the  most  far-away  stockade  extended  a  graded, 

'  Lahontan,  Voyages,  gives  graphic  pictiires  of  the  life  of  the 
colonial  noblesse. 


i75o]  CANADIAN    PEOPLE  135 

well-organized  system,  whereby  public  moneys  and 
supplies  from  France  were  unconscionably  preyed 
upon.  Not  even  was  the  bench  free  from  this  stain. 
It  was  said  of  a  certain  judge  of  the  admiralty,  who 
was  also  judge  of  the  inferior  court  of  justice  on 
Cape  Breton:  "This  magistrate  and  the  others  of 
subordinate  jurisdiction  grew  extremely  rich,  since 
they  are  interested  in  different  branches  of  com- 
merce, particularly  the  contraband."  * 

Smuggling  was  everywhere  practised,  and  as 
freely  winked  at  by  interested  officials.  It  has  al- 
ready been  stated  that  both  French  and  English 
governments  sought  to  confine  their  colonial  com- 
merce to  vessels  flying  their  own  flags ;  but,  despite 
severe  laws,  there  was  much  clandestine  trade.  We 
have  seen  that  Louisburg  merchants  maintained  a 
considerable  commerce  with  Boston,  an  irregularity 
overlooked  by  the  garrison  commandant  because 
thence  came  a  large  share  of  his  supplies.  As  early 
as  1725  Louisburg  was  becoming  a  considerable  port 
of  call  for  French  vessels  engaged  in  the  West-Indian 
trade,  and  ships  from  England  and  her  colonies  were 
often  in  the  harbor.  It  was  thus  natural  that 
sugar,  coffee,  and  tobacco  from  the  French  West 
Indies,  and  wine  and  brandy  from  France,  should  be 
exchanged  with  New  England  fishermen  for  codfish ; 
and  brick,  lumber,  meal,  rum,  and  many  other  New 
England  commodities  found  their  way  into  New 
France. 

'  Pichon,  Memoirs,  quoted  in  Bourinot,  Cape  Breton,  30. 


136  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1689 

Even  the  French  fur-trade  was  confronted  by  this 
demoralizing  practice.  It  has  been  shown  that 
their  forest  merchants  were  unable  to  offer  as  high 
prices  for  furs,  in  barter,  as  the  English,  owing  to  the 
greater  cost  of  obtaining  goods  suitable  for  the 
Indian  trade  through  the  monopoly  which  hung  over 
them  as  a  pall;  whereas  Englishmen  enjoyed  free 
trade  and  open  competition/  Wherever  English 
traders  could  penetrate — into  the  Cherokee  country, 
into  the  Ohio  Valley,  along  the  lower  Great  Lakes,  on 
the  Kennebec  border,  and  upon  the  New  York  and 
New  Hampshire  frontier — the  savages,  keen  at  a 
bargain,  would  make  long  journeys  to  reach  them 
with  their  pelts.  The  French  inflamed  the  natural 
hatred  of  their  allies  for  the  English  as  a  people, 
and  resorted  to  bullying  and  often  to  force  to  pre- 
vent this  diversion  of  custom,  but  often  without 
avail. 

Ecclesiastical  affairs  occupied  a  large  share  of 
popular  attention  in  New  France.^  The  bishop  and 
his  priests  ruled  not  only  in  matters  spiritual,  but 
in  most  of  those  temporal  concerns  that  came  near- 
est to  the  daily  life  of  the  people,  being,  indeed, 
"fathers"  to  their  flocks.  No  community,  whether 
of  fishers,  habitants,  fur  -  traders,  or  soldiers  was 
without  either  its  secular  priest  or  its  missionary 
friar.  The  chapel  or  the  church  was  the  nucleus  of 
every  village.     Being  generally  the  only  educated 

'See  chaps,  iii.,  vi.,  above. 

*  Parkman,  Old  Regime,  chap.  xix. 


I750]  CANADIAN    PEOPLE  137 

man  in  the  parish,  the  cure  was  the  local  school- 
master, often  also  served  as  physician,  and  in  every 
walk  of  Hfe  accompanied  and  guided  his  "children" 
from  the  cradle  to  the  grave.  The  French  colonists, 
naturally  an  obedient  people,  were  deeply  religious ; 
they  implicitly  submitted  to  the  father  because  they 
honored  him  as  a  counsellor  and  revered  him  as  a 
man  of  God.  Many  of  the  ecclesiastics  were  bigoted, 
fanatical  men,  in  poHtical  as  well  as  in  religious  Hfe ; 
such  as  Rale  were  perhaps  better  fitted  for  partisan 
captains  than  spiritual  leaders.  But  everywhere 
it  was  an  age  of  bigotry  and  fanaticism ;  the  annals 
of  neither  Old  nor  New  England  are  spotless  in  this 
respect. 

Take  them  by  and  large,  in  comparison  with  the 
religious  of  their  time  in  other  lands,  and  the  priests 
and  missionaries  of  New  France  will  not  suffer  in 
the  examination,  either  intellectually  or  spiritually. 
Indeed,  the  fascinating  history  of  their  remarkable 
and  wide-spread  Indian  missions,  particularly  those 
of  the  Jesuits — although  much  might  also  be  said  in 
praise  of  the  less  strenuous  Recollects,  Sulpitians, 
and  Capuchins— furnishes  some  of  the  most  brilliant 
examples  on  record  of  self-sacrificing  and  heroic 
devotion  to  an  exalted  cause.  The  career  of  a  vil- 
lage cure  was  less  spectacular,  but  his  work  among 
the  simple  habitants  was  even  more  important  in  the 
spiritual  life  of  the  people ;  and  although  seldom  al- 
luded to  in  history,  was  not  barren  of  incidents  which 
called  for  a  high  degree  of  physical  as  well  as  of 

VOL.     VII.  —  II 


138  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1689 

moral  courage.  It  is  not  necessary  to  be  a  Catholic, 
nor  is  it  essential  that  from  the  stand-point  of  the 
twentieth  century  we  should  endorse  the  wisdom  of 
its  every  act  in  the  eighteenth,  most  profoundly  to 
admire  the  work  of  the  Church  of  Rome  both  among 
whites  and  savages  in  New  France.  American 
history  would  lose  much  of  its  welcome  color  were 
there  blotted  from  its  pages  the  picturesque  and 
often  thrilling  story  of  the  cures  and  friars  of  Canada 
in  the  French  regime. 

The  one  great  mistake  of  the  church,  which  all 
can  now  recognize,  was  the  barring -out  of  the 
Huguenots  from  New  France,  after  the  revocation 
of  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  thereby  driving  to  rival 
English  settlements  a  considerable  share  of  the 
brains  and  brawn  of  France,  thus  building  up  the 
rival  at  the  expense  of  Canada.' 

Practically  there  were  no  manufactures  in  New 
France.  Many  of  the  vessels  engaged  in  interior 
commerce  were  smuggled  through  from  New  Eng- 
land ship-yards.  The  fisheries  were,  as  we  have  seen, 
to  some  extent  artificially  fostered.  Agriculture 
was  neglected,  beyond  the  mere  necessities  of  sub- 
sistence. Arms,  hunting,  and  the  fur -trade  were 
the  only  callings  that  prospered  among  these  mer- 
curial, imaginative,  and  obedient  folk,  who  were  the 
victims  of  a  paternal  and  military  government  that 
had  not  trained  them  to  work  without  leading- 
strings.     They  were  distinctly  a  people  who  needed, 

'  See  chap,  i.,  above. 


I750]  CANADIAN    PEOPLE  139 

so  long  as  this  policy  continued,  the  constant  sup- 
port of  a  power  that  could  keep  in  continual  touch 
with  them,  one  that  could  dominate  the  lanes  of  the 
intervening  sea ;  and  to  this  great  task  France  was 
quite  unequal. 

Theoretically,  every  male  in  New  France  between 
the  ages  of  sixteen  and  sixty  was  a  soldier.  It  will 
be  shown  in  a  later  chapter*  that  in  1756  there  were 
perhaps  fifteen  thousand  of  them,  nearly  half  of 
these  engaged  in  callings,  such  as  fishing  or  the 
fur -trade,  that  had  accustomed  them  to  the  use 
of  arms.  There  were,  however,  in  garrison  but 
twenty-five  hundred  regular  troops  of  the  colonial 
marine,^  from  France,  together  with  a  few  troops 
of  the  line,  increased  under  Montcalm  to  four 
thousand. 

There  were  also  available,  either  for  harrying 
the  English  borders  or  upon  regular  campaigns,  a 
considerable  number  of  Indians,  but  how  many,  it 
would  be  idle  to  estimate,  for  no  statistics  have  come 
down  to  us.  Most  of  the  tribes  of  the  Algonquian 
stock  between  the  Mississippi  and  the  sea  could 
be  relied  on  as  allies;  but  the  five  tribes  of  the 
masterly  Iroquois^  might  generally  be  considered 
as  enemies,  although  there  was  ever  an  element  of 
uncertainty  in  their  policy,  dependent  both  on  the 


•See  chap,  xii.,  below. 

2  French  colonies  were  governed  through  the  Department  of 
Marine. 

3  Greene,  Provincial  America  {Am.  Nation,  VI.),  chap.  vii. 


I40  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1689 

presence  or  absence  of  grievances  with  their  Eng- 
lish patrons  and  on  the  plausibility  of  French  di- 
plomacy, which  was  ever  busy  among  these  astute 
warriors. 

With  the  exception,  chiefly,  of  the  Iroquois  and 
the  Foxes,  the  tribesmen  entertained  a  real  affection 
for  the  French,  who,  greatly  desiring  their  trade, 
cultivated  their  alliance  and  treated  them  as  friends 
and  equals;  an  attitude  far  different  from  that  of 
the  English,  who  for  the  most  part  dealt  with  them 
honestly  as  customers,  but  could  not  conceal  either 
their  dislike  of  an  inferior  people  or  the  fact  that 
they  were  looked  upon  as  subjects.  French  traders, 
explorers,  and  adventurers  lived  among  the  savages, 
took  Indian  women  for  their  consorts,  reared  half- 
breed  families,  and,  although  representatives  of  the 
most  polished  nation  of  Europe,  for  the  time  being 
acted  as  though  to  the  forest  bom. 

French  missionaries  succeeded  in  the  Indian 
villages  as  no  Protestant  Englishman,  with  his  cold 
type  of  Christianity,  has  ever  done.  The  French 
father  lived  with  the  brown  people,  shared  their 
privations  and  burdens,  and  ministered  with  loving 
and  sacrificing  zeal  both  to  their  spiritual  and  their 
physical  wants.  Moreover,  the  Catholic  church, 
with  its  combination  of  mysticism  and  ritualistic 
pomp,  its  banners  and  processions  and  symbolic 
images  and  pictures,  strongly  appealed  to  the 
barbarians.  If  not  really  Christianized — and  there 
is  room  seriously  to  doubt  whether  more  than  the 


i75o]  CANADIAN    PEOPLE  141 

merest  handful  of  North  American  Indians  have 
ever  really  been  converted  to  the  creed  of  the 
Nazarene — they  at  least  came  in  large  nimibers  to 
adopt  the  forms  of  Catholicism,  deeming  a  "medi- 
cine" so  efficacious  among  white  people  worthy  of 
respectful  attention. 

We  have  seen  that  the  people  of  New  France  had 
little  individual  enterprise;  free  association  among 
them  was  discouraged ;  their  manufactures  and  com- 
merce were  limited;  lack  of  sea-power  had  resulted 
in  neglect  on  the  part  of  the  mother  -  land ;  the 
colony's  sparse  population  was  thinly  scattered  over 
a  vast  area,  and  was  poor  in  resources.  It  might 
have  been,  and  doubtless  was,  thought  by  astute 
European  observers  that  in  Canada's  death-struggle 
with  the  rival  colonies  to  the  south  the  end  would 
soon  be  reached  and  would  be  inevitable. 

But  the  contest  was  not  to  prove  so  one-sided 
as  this.  The  autocratic  polity  of  New  France  en- 
abled her  leaders  to  act  as  a  unit ;  whereas  against 
her  were  arrayed  thirteen  distinct  provinces,  with 
governors  who  had  little  authority  and  legislatures 
which  debated  and  wrangled  with  painful  deliberate- 
ness,  trading  on  the  presence  of  a  grave  public 
danger  to  gain  concessions  from  the  representatives 
of  the  crown.  Such  an  enemy  found  it  difficult  to 
act  in  unison.  The  French  colonists  were  poor,  but 
they  were  intensely  loyal  to  church  and  king,  were 
trained  to  childlike  obedience,  were  supremely  con- 
tented under  a  paternalism  that  would  have  sorely 


142  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1750 

fretted  Englishmen,  had  enjoyed  a  fine  schooling  in 
the  hardy  and  adventurous  life  of  the  forest,  and 
were  warlike  and  quick  in  action.  Whereas  their 
English  rivals  had  been  reared  to  trade,  to  love 
peace,  to  deliberate  before  they  acted,  to  count  the 
cost,  and  to  resent  dictation.  The  English  system 
was  more  favorable  to  peaceful  growth;  the  French 
autocracy  was  better  suited  for  war.  New  France 
was  but  a  pygmy,  but  she  certainly  had  a  good 
fighting  chance. 


CHAPTER  IX 

BASIS    OF    THE    FINAL    STRUGGLE 
(1748-17  5  2) 

WE  have  seen  that  at  the  middle  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century  France  was  well  intrenched  at 
both  ends  of  the  great  mid  -  continental  drainage 
trough:  commanding  from  the  rock  of  Quebec  the 
St.  Lawrence,  the  Great  Lakes,  and  the  far  north- 
west; and  from  the  island  of  Orleans,  the  far- 
stretching  Mississippi.  Superficial  observers  in  Eu- 
rope were  doubtless  of  the  opinion  that  she  held 
in  her  hands  the  destinies  of  all  the  cultivable  area 
of  North  America,  save  the  narrow  Appalachian 
slope  over  which  England  was  in  undisputed  con- 
trol. But  closer  inspection  would  have  revealed 
a  different  picture:  New  England  was  now  press- 
ing upon  the  Acadian  border;  New  York  was  con- 
trolling the  dread  Iroquois,  and  Virginia  and  Penn- 
sylvania were  making  claims  to  the  upper  western 
slope  of  the  mountains  and  even  to  the  lower  lands 
as  far  as  the  Ohio;  now  and  then  daring  Carolina 
traders  foimd  their  way  among  the  generally  hostile 
Cherokee,  in  intervals  between  the  blows  which  the 
latter  dealt  upon  the  white  settlements.     The  most 

143 


144  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1750 

serious  danger  of  all,  to  New  France,  lay  in  the  fact 
that  the  hunters,  trappers,  fiir- traders,  and  cattle- 
men of  Pennsylvania,  Virginia,  the  Carolinas,  and 
Georgia  were  at  last  venturing  by  scores  through 
the  passes  of  the  Blue  Ridge  and  the  Alleghanies, 
and  appropriating  lands  and  forest  trade  upon 
westering  waters,  which  France  had  long  considered 
quite  her  own. 

The  thirteen  colonies  were  almost  as  isolated  from 
one  another  as  they  were  from  Europe.  Outside  of 
the  New  England  group,  few  persons  undertook  to 
journey  from  one  to  the  other,  and  those  were 
generally  either  officials  or  occasional  tourists  from 
Europe — save  seamen,  who  conducted  a  considera- 
ble intercolonial  commerce.  Coasting  vessels  trans- 
ported most  of  the  travellers,  for  water  was  an 
easier  highway  than  land,  the  rough  wagon-roads 
and  rude  bridle-paths  often  leading  through  dense 
forests,  with  infrequent  bridges. 

Had  there  been  no  differences  of  race,  creed,  and 
ideals,  the  result  of  this  isolation  would  of  itself 
naturally  breed  jealousy  and  distrust.  The  New- 
Englander  seldom  even  saw  his  compatriot*  from 
the  middle  colonies  or  the  south.  Men  in  self- 
governing  communities,  thus  dwelling  apart,  were 
largely  taken  up  with  their  petty  local  village  or 
plantation  interests;  only  the  broader-minded  few 
gave  a  thought  to  the  affairs  of  their  own  province ; 
and  still  more  rare  was  the  colonist  who  cared  to 
know  what  was  doing  beyond  his  provincial  borders. 


1750]  BASIS    OF    RIVALRY  145 

They  were  a  hard-working,  self-centred  people, 
engaged  in  the  daily  toil  of  what  was  in  all  sections 
essentially  a  frontier  life,  differing  only  in  degree; 
and  they  had  but  a  narrow  horizon. 

The  New  England  provinces  and  New  York, 
having  as  yet  no  outlet  to  the  west,  were  forced 
northward  in  search  of  new  lands,  and  in  con- 
sequence possessed  an  intimate  knowledge  of  their 
French  and  Indian  opponents.  South  of  the  Hudson 
the  sea-coast  dwellers  had  by  the  middle  of  the 
eighteenth  century  largely  forgotten  the  early  Ind- 
ian wars,  and  to  them  the  reports  about  French  in- 
trigues west  of  the  mountains  meant  little.  On  the 
uplands  of  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  Virginia,  the 
Carolinas,  and  Georgia  the  adventtrrous  borderers 
— cattlemen,  hunters,  and  fur-traders  by  turn — well 
imderstood  the  situation;  but  these  men  on  the 
firing-line  were  as  yet  relatively  few,  and  their  appeals 
to  the  low  country  often  fell  on  unheeding  ears. 

The  middle  colonies  and  the  south  presented  an 
Indian  frontier  over  six  himdred  miles  in  length. 
During  the  border  wars  the  advance  agents  of 
British  occupation,  the  itinerant  English  and  Scotch- 
Irish  fur-traders,  were  obliged  in  large  measure  to 
suspend  their  operations  in  the  camps  of  the  abo- 
rigines and  to  fall  back  upon  the  border-line  of 
settlement.  The  frontier  between  civiHzation  and 
savagery  was  often  characterized  by  two  or  three 
distinctive  belts  of  white  occupation.  The  farthest 
outposts  were  the  rude  huts,  generally  many  miles 


146  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1750 

apart,  of  borderers  who  existed  directly  upon  the 
resources  of  the  forest,  game  and  fish  being  their 
principal  food,  while  the  skins  of  the  deer  and  the 
elk  constituted  the  greater  part  of  their  clothing. 
Often,  for  the  first  few  seasons,  the  outpost  settler 
grew  no  crops,  either  because — graceless,  untutored, 
fretting  under  any  form  of  restraint — he  detested 
plodding  employment,  or  because  his  aboriginal  but 
scarcely  more  savage  neighbors  resented  his  presence 
on  their  hunting-grounds  and  occasionally  drove 
him  back  towards  the  older  settlements.  Perhaps 
twenty-five  or  more  miles  farther  eastward  was  the 
second  border-line,  distinguished  by  the  log-cabins 
of  men  who  were  raising  horses,  cattle,  sheep,  and 
hogs,  which  grazed  at  will  upon  the  corrugated  up- 
lands of  the  western  Carolinas  or  on  the  broad 
slopes  of  the  valley  of  Virginia.  Life  among  these 
range  -  men  resembled  that  experienced  upon  the 
ranches  of  our  own  Far  West,  if  we  allow  for  the 
differences  wrought  by  the  social  changes  of  a 
century  and  a  half,  the  proximity  of  railroads,  and 
the  substitution  of  the  plains  for  the  forest.  The 
annual  round-up,  the  branding  of  young  stock,  the 
sometimes  deadly  disputes  between  herdsmen,  and 
the  autumnal  drive  to  market  are  features  in  com- 
mon. Still  eastward,  another  fifty  miles  or  so,  were 
the  small,  rough  holdings  of  the  border  farmers, 
separated  by  long  stretches  of  forest  from  the  more 
thickly  settled  and  prosperous  country  which  a 
generation  or  two  before  had  itself  been  the  border. 


I750]  BASIS    OF    RIVALRY  147 

Nearly  all  of  the  frontiersmen,  clad  in  a  primitive 
costume  in  part  borrowed  from  the  Indians,  were 
rough  in  manners  and  in  speech.  Not  all  were 
heroes,  for  among  them  were  many  who  had  fled 
from  the  coast  settlements  because  no  longer  to  be 
tolerated  in  a  law-abiding  community.  The  fur- 
traders,  who  kept  in  constant  touch  with  their 
homes  upon  the  border,  being  indeed  sometimes 
forced  back  to  them  by  their  savage  customers,  were 
not  seldom  mean,  brutal  fellows;  and  there  were 
others  whose  innate  badness  had  in  this  untram- 
melled society  developed  into  wickedness.  Every 
man  was  a  law  unto  himself,  and  education  was  con- 
fined to  a  few.  In  almost  every  community  of  these 
crude,  unlettered  folk,  however,  dwelt  some  who, 
of  much  superior  caliber,  in  times  of  great  public 
need  naturally  assumed  leadership  and  exercised  an 
elevating  influence  on  their  fellows.  The  history 
of  the  American  border,  while  disgraced  by  many 
pages  of  lawlessness  and  brutality,  contains  quite 
as  many  telling  of  lofty  purpose  and  sterling  deeds. 

The  colonial  population  of  about  one  million 
three  hundred  and  seventy  thousand  souls  had 
largely  sprung  from  the  middle  and  lower  classes 
of  the  mother-land.  In  1750  it  was  still  for  the 
most  part  English,  especially  in  New  England;  but 
there  were  in  the  other  colonies  representatives 
from  nearly  every  European  land,  particularly  Ger- 
many; while  perhaps  a  fifth  or  sixth  of  the  whole 
were  negro  slaves,  these  varying  in  proportion  in 


148  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1750 

the  various  colonies,  but  most  numerous,  because 
most  profitable,  in  the  south.  During  the  first  half 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  about  a  hundred  thousand 
Scotch-Irish  emigrated  from  northeast  Ireland  to 
North  America.  Landing  upon  the  sea-coast  all 
the  way  from  Pennsylvania  to  the  Carolinas  and 
Georgia,  this  sturdy  people — whose  ancestors  had 
been  taken  from  Scotland  to  subdue  Catholic  Ulster, 
but  who  were  now  under  royal  displeasure — at  once 
sought  new  and  cheap  lands.  They  found  these 
towards  the  frontier,  which  was  then  not  far  from 
tide-water. 

Gradually,  as  the  pressure  upon  available  land 
became  greater,  the  younger  generations  of  Penn- 
sylvania Scotch- Irish  moved  southwest  ward  through 
the  troughs  of  the  Alleghanies,  either  tarrying  on  the 
upper  waters  of  the  Potomac  or  pressing  on  to  the 
deep  and  fertile  valleys  of  southwest  Virginia  and 
North  Carolina.  The  South  Carolina  and  Georgia 
Scotch-Irish  on  their  part  spread  northwestward, 
because  the  easy  southern  trails  to  the  west,  where 
the  Alleghanies  degenerate  into  the  gulf  plain, 
were  savagely  guarded  by  English-hating  Cherokee. 
We  shall  see  that  these  Ulster  bordermen,  easily 
developing  into  expert  Indian  fighters,  formed  with 
the  English  colonial  adventurers  and  Protestant 
Germans  who  commingled  with  them  a  highly  im- 
portant factor  in  the  coming  battles  for  English 
supremacy  in  the  still  newer  land  beyond  the 
mountains. 


1750]  BASIS    OF    RIVALRY  149 

The  contentious  attitude  of  the  assemblies  towards 
their  governors  rendered  it  difficult  for  the  latter 
to  induce  them  to  raise,  feed,  and  pay  military- 
forces.  Promptness  was  impossible  under  such  cir- 
cumstances. There  were  instances  where  the  fron- 
tier seriously  suffered  from  French  and  Indian  raids 
before  succor  could  be  sent.  In  Pennsylvania,  the 
Quakers  refused  to  fight,  and  sometimes  declined 
in  any  manner  to  aid  in  the  public  defence,  which 
added  another  and  very  serious  obstacle  to  the 
placing  of  the  colonies  on  a  war  footing. 

Moreover,  the  democratic  social  system  was  a 
disadvantage  in  such  emergencies.  Not  only  were 
there  lacking  that  cohesion,  precision,  and  prompt- 
ness which  are  the  chief  merits  of  an  autocracy,  but 
the  officers  were  chosen  by  the  men  whom  they 
were  to  lead;  and  while  this  was  not  seriously  prej- 
udicial in  bush-ranging,  it  was  inimical  to  good 
work  in  protracted  campaigns.  Special  conditions 
were  also  often  attached  to  enlistments,  such  as 
freedom  from  service  beyond  the  colonial  boundaries ; 
and  the  men  were  particularly  tenacious  of  their 
privilege  of  returning  home  when  their  term  of 
service  had  expired.  Serious  results  sometimes 
occurred,  because  of  this  captious  spirit,  both  in  the 
coming  French  and  Indian  and  in  the  Revolutionary 
wars.  The  attitude  is  comprehensible,  however, 
when  we  take  into  account  the  wide-spread  jealousy, 
then  prevalent  in  the  colonies,  of  the  slightest  in- 
fringement by  those  in  authority  upon  the  personal 


I50  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1744 

liberty  of  the  subject.  Massachusetts  was  always 
the  strongest  military  colony  and  the  most  willing 
to  contribute  to  warlike  enterprises,  with  Connecti- 
cut a  close  second;  this  largely  because  their  as- 
semblies, long  trained  in  public  affairs,  had  them- 
selves well  in  hand,  and  consequently  entertained 
less  fear  of  royal  usurpation  of  privilege. 

As  to  the  soldierly  quality  of  the  English  provin- 
cials, when  once  in  the  field,  there  can  be  but  one 
judgment.  Hampered  by  their  numerous  and  per- 
plexing separatist  tendencies,  and  their  sometimes 
painful  and  unmilitary  striving  after  personal  in- 
dependence, they  were  numerous  and  possessed  of 
enormous  material  resources;  they  came  of  some 
of  the  toughest  fighting  stock  in  Europe,  and  at 
nearly  every  vantage-point  in  the  wide  and  diversi- 
fied field  of  operations  which  we  are  now  to  survey 
in  some  detail,  they  acquitted  themselves  in  a  manner 
of  which  their  descendants  may  well  feel  proud; 
though  in  all  combined  operations  the  inefficiency 
of  the  diffuse  colonial  administration,  for  purposes 
of  war,  was  painfully  manifest. 

Under  the  treaty  of  Utrecht  (17 13),  France  had 
acknowledged  the  suzerainty  of  the  British  king  over 
the  Iroquois  confederacy.  This  important  admis- 
sion had  for  thirty  years  been  held  in  abeyance. 
In  June,  1744,  it  bore  fruit.  In  a  great  council  held 
with  the  Iroquois  at  the  Pennsylvania  outpost  of 
Lancaster,  the  latter  were  bribed  and  cajoled  into 
formally  granting  to  their  English  overlords  entire 


1749]  BASIS    OF    RIVALRY  151 

control  of  the  Ohio  Valley  north  of  the  river,  tinder 
the  plea  that  the  Iroquois  had  in  various  encounters 
conquered  the  Shawnee  of  that  region  and  were 
therefore  entitled  to  it/  It  is  obvious  that  this  was 
a  shallow  pretext,  but  it  served  to  strengthen  the 
English  contention,  by  giving  them  something  tan- 
gible to  fight  about ;  indeed,  it  was,  so  long  as  Eng- 
land held  her  colonies,  accounted  the  comer-stone 
on  which  they  based  their  pretensions  to  the  West. 
As  the  war  -  paths  of  the  Iroquois  had  extended 
from  the  Ottawa  River  on  the  north  to  the  Carolinas 
on  the  south,  and  from  the  Mississippi  to  New  Eng- 
land, the  claim  of  their  suzerain  was  almost  as  broad 
as  that  of  New  France. 

No  sooner  had  they  made  pretence  of  giving  to 
the  English  that  which  they  did  not  own  than  the 
fickle  Iroquois  renewed  negotiations  with  New 
France ;  and  five  years  later  (1749)  admitted  through 
the  Chautauqua  gateway  another  French  recon- 
naissance in  force.  Its  commandant,  Celeron  de 
Bienville,^  was  charged  with  the  double  purpose 
of  formally  "taking  possession"  by  the  usual  means 
of  planting  at  the  mouth  of  principal  streams  leaden 
plates  ^  graven  with  the  French  claim,  and  of  driving 
out  English  traders.  The  latter  were  found  swarm- 
ing into  the  country,  and,  although  he  imprisoned 

'  Detailed  report  in  Pa.  Colonial  Records,  IV.,  698-737. 

^  Parkman,  Montcahn  and  Wolfe,  I.,  36-62. 

3  Facsimiles  of  two  of  these  plates  in  Hildreth,  Ohio  Valley, 
20-23;  De  Hass,  Western  Virginia,  50;  and  N.  Y.  Docs.  Rcl.  to 
Col.  Hist.,  VI.,  611. 


152  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1748 

four/  Celeron's  report  was  discouraging.  Governor 
Galissoni^re,  of  New  France,  accompanied  this  docu- 
ment by  a  plea  for  the  shipment  of  ten  thousand 
French  peasants  to  settle  the  region  before  English 
agricultural  pioneers  could  reach  it ;  but  the  govern- 
ment at  Versailles  was  just  then  indifferent  to  the 
colony,  and  the  settlers  were  not  sent. 

The  backwoodsmen  of  Virginia  were  not  idle, 
however.  Several  of  them  had  already  explored, 
himted,  and  made  land  claims  in  Kentucky.  But 
more  important  than  these  was  the  fact  that  in 
1748,  the  year  preceding  Celeron's  vain  endeavor  to 
drive  English  traders  out  of  the  Ohio  Valley,  a  little 
group  of  agricultural  frontiersmen  from  the  neigh- 
boring valley  of  Virginia  settled  permanently  at 
Draper's  Meadows,  upon  New  (Greenbrier)  River, 
thus  planting  the  first  stake  for  England  upon  west- 
flowing  waters.* 

In  the  very  year  of  Celeron's  expedition,  there 
was  chartered  by  the  British  king  the  Ohio  Com- 
pany, formed  for  fur-trading  and  colonizing  pur- 
poses to  the  west  of  the  mountains.  It  was  a 
Virginia  enterprise,  designed  in  large  part  slyly  to 
checkmate  Pennsylvania,  which,  owing  to  internal 
dissensions,  was  tardy  in  taking  steps  to  settle  the 
Ohio  basin.  In  this  corporation  were  several  pro- 
vincials of   social  and  political  influence  —  among 

'  A^  Y.  Docs.  Rel.  to  Col.  Hist.,  X.,  248. 

'  On  the  date  of  this  settlement,  see  De  Hass,  Western  Vir- 
ginia, 41;  Hale,  Trans- Allegheny  Pioneers,  i6,  17. 


I7SO]  BASIS    OF    RIVALRY  153 

them  Washington's  two  brothers,  Lawrence  and 
Augustine — together  with  a  like  group  of  English 
gentlemen,  chief  of  whom  was  John  Hanbury,  a 
wealthy  London  merchant.  The  charter  granted 
to  the  company  (May  19,  1749)  a  half-milHon  acres 
south  of  and  along  the  Ohio  River — "which  lands 
are  his  Majesty's  undoubted  right  by  the  treaty  of 
Lancaster  and  subsequent  treaties  at  Logstown" 
(on  the  upper  Ohio)/  They  were,  in  return  for 
this  grant,  to  build  a  fort  on  the  Ohio,  and  to  plant 
on  their  lands  a  hundred  families  within  seven 
years.  Such  was  England's  reply  to  the  now  freely 
circulated  rumor  that  France  was  proposing  to  con- 
struct a  line  of  posts  along  the  Ohio,  from  its  forks 
(now  Pittsburg)  to  its  mouth. 

Christopher  Gist,  widely  known  on  the  frontier 
as  a  brave,  intelligent,  and  tactful  man,  with  long 
experience  among  the  western  Indians,  was  prompt- 
ly despatched  (1750)  to  explore  the  country  as  far 
down  as  the  Falls  of  the  Ohio  (now  Louisville),  and 
to  select  lands  for  the  company,  as  well  as  to  bear 
friendly  messages  to  the  Shawnee,  still  dominant  in 
that  region.  He  was  instructed  to  select  only  "  good 
level  land";  for,  wrote  the  company's  officers  to 
him,  "  we  had  rather  go  quite  down  to  the  Mississippi 
than  take  mean,  broken  land."  During  this  and  the 
following  year,  Gist  explored  within  what  are  now 
the  states  of  Ohio,  Kentucky,  and  West  Virginia, 
besides  portions  of  western  Maryland  and  south- 

voL.  vn.— 12  ^  Dinwiddic  Papers,!.,   72. 


154  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1750 

western  Pennsylvania.  He  met  many  Scotch-Irish 
traders,  whose  centre  of  operations  was  at  Picka- 
willany,  an  Indian  village  on  the  upper  Miami,  at 
Logstown,  on  the  Ohio,  eighteen  miles  below  the 
forks,  and  at  Venango,  on  the  Alleghany;  and  for 
the  benefit  of  posterity  he  kept  an  interesting  jour- 
nal of  his  expedition/  His  favorable  report  greatly 
stimulated  English  interest  in  the  west. 

Meanwhile,  the  company  constructed  a  fortified 
trading  -  house  at  Wills  Creek  (now  Cumberland, 
Maryland),  near  the  head  of  the  Potomac;  and 
by  the  aid  of  a  prominent  frontiersman.  Colonel 
Thomas  Cresap,  and  an  Indian  named  Nemacolin, 
blazed  a  trail  sixty  miles  long  over  the  picturesque 
water  -  shed  of  the  Laurel  Hills,  to  the  mouth  of 
Redstone  Creek  (now  Brownsville,  Pennsylvania), 
on  the  Monongahela,  where  was  built  another  stock- 
ade (1752).  This  path,  which,  with  some  later  de- 
flections, was  destined  to  become  famous  in  west- 
em  history  as  "Nemacolin's  Path,"  "Gist's  Trace," 
"Washington's  Road,"  "  Braddock's  Road,"  and 
"Cumberland  Pike,"  successively,  was  at  once  fol- 
lowed by  a  few  daring  Virginia  settlers,  who  planted 
themselves  upon  its  western  terminus.^ 

There  had  never  been  any  commonly  recognized 
boundaries  between  the  North  American  colonies  of 

•  First  published  in  1776,  in  Pownall,  Topographical  Descrip- 
tion of  North  America.  See  Darlington,  ChristopJier  Gist's 
Journals. 

*  For  details,  see  Lowdermilk,  Cumberland;  Cmmrine,  Wash- 
ington County  (Pa.);  Hulbert,  Historic  Highways,  III.,  IV. 


1758]  BASIS    OF    RIVALRY  155 

France  and  England.  The  territorial  claims  of 
neither  nation  had  at  any  time  previous  to  the  war 
been  stated  with  definiteness  by  officials  authorized 
to  do  so.  Claims  fluctuated  from  time  to  time, 
according  to  the  policy  of  the  hour  or  the  tempera- 
ment of  the  person  making  the  contention.  We 
have  seen'  how  variable  were  the  French  conten- 
tions regarding  the  extent  of  Acadia.  The  English 
colonial  charters  included,  at  least  by  inference,  all 
of  the  interior  westward  to  the  Pacific.  In  general 
it  may  be  stated  that  France,  during  the  greater  part 
of  the  half-century  preceding  the  final  struggle,  was 
willing  to  allow  the  English  only  the  Atlantic  slope 
below  the  Kennebec  and  the  height  of  land  rimming 
in  the  St.  Lawrence  to  the  south,  and  the  region 
north  of  the  Spanish  claims  in  eastern  Louisiana. 
Practically,  the  pretensions  of  the  French  were  the 
basin  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  Great  Lakes,  and 
the  Winnipeg  and  Saskatchewan  drainage  systems, 
and  to  the  southward  all  of  the  continental  interior 
between  the  Appalachians  and  the  Cordilleras,  so 
far  as  this  region  was  not  already  occupied  by  the 
Spanish  of  the  southwest.^ 

Early  in  1758,  however,  Montcalm  made  to  the 
department  of  war  a  definite  and  apparently  careful 
official  statement  of  the  territorial  claims  of  New 
France  as  follows — and  this  we  may  properly  accept 

'See  chap,  ii.,  above. 

^  See  Northern  and  Western  Boundaries  of  Ontario,  53-56,  for 
unofficial  statements  of  ancient  boundaries  of  Canada. 


156  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1758 

as  a  clear  outline  of  the  French  contention  at  the 
height  of  the  war :  "  France  must  have  at  least  posses- 
sion of  what  England  calls  Acadia  as  far  as  the 
Isthmus,  and  re- take  Beausejour ;  she  must  have  the 
River  St.  John;  at  least  leave  the  River  St.  John  in 
the  joint  occupation  of  the  Abenaqui  and  Mikmak 
Indians.  Lake  St.  Sacrement  to  France,  at  least 
neutral,  not  to  be  at  liberty  to  erect  forts  on  Wood 
creek.  England  will  never  renounce  Fort  Lydius 
[Edward].  I  believe  it  to  be  on  her  territory;  to 
engage  her  to  do  so.  Carillon  [Ticonderoga]  must 
be  abandoned.  Lake  Ontario,  Lake  Erie  to  France ; 
the  English  cannot  erect  forts  on  these  lakes,  nor 
on  any  rivers  emptying  therein.  The  height  of 
land,  the  natural  boundary  between  France  and 
England  as  far  as  the  Ohio ;  thereby  the  Apalachies 
become  the  boundary  for  England;  the  Ohio  to 
belong  to  France,  as  well  as  Fort  Duquesne,  unless 
a  better  fort  can  be  made,  and  one  better  lo- 
cated, for  Fort  Duquesne  is  good  for  nothing  and 
is  falling.  To  maintain  the  Five  Nations  inde- 
pendent and  the  Indians  towards  the  River  Sus- 
quehanna called  Delawares  (Lonps),  and  that  neither 
France  nor  England  have  power  to  erect  forts 
among  those  people."  ' 

'Montcalm  to  De  Paulmy,  February  23,  1758,  in  N.  Y.  Docs. 
Rel.  to  Col.  Hist.,  X.,  690. 


CHAPTER   X 

OUTBREAK    OF    WAR 
(1752-1754) 

BOTH  French  and  English  were  awake  to  the 
immense  strategic  importance  of  the  junction 
of  the  Monongahela  and  Alleghany  Rivers  —  the 
"Forks  of  the  Ohio,"  as  it  was  then  called.  The 
former  recognized  in  the  Ohio  Company's  opera- 
tions the  unmistakable  determination  of  their  rivals 
forcibly  and  at  once  to  occupy  the  great  valley, 
imder  claims  based  upon  the  sea-to-sea  provisions 
of  the  colonial  charters.  A  report  to  the  govern- 
ment made  by  Dumas,  one  of  the  frontier  captains, 
declared  that  "all  the  resources  of  the  state  will 
never  preserve  Canada,  if  the  English  are  once 
settled  at  the  heads  of  these  western  rivers."  * 

In  the  spring  of  1753  the  French,  anticipating 
the  dilatory  movements  of  the  Virginians,  who  as 
usual  lost  much  time  in  debating,  built  a  stout 
log  stockade.  Fort  le  Boeuf,  upon  French  Creek, 
a  northern  tributary  of  the  Alleghany.  This  was 
intended  to  protect  the  woodland  portage  route 
from  their  newly  constructed  fort  at  Presq'isle,  to 

'  Winsor,  Mississippi  Basin,   251. 


158  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1753 

be  followed  by  another  outpost  at  the  Forks  of  the 
Ohio,  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles  to  the  south. 
Sickness  in  the  camp  had,  however,  prevented  so 
extended  an  advance  that  season.  The  English 
trading-post  of  Venango,  at  the  junction  of  French 
Creek  and  the  Alleghany,  was,  nevertheless,  seized 
and  occupied  by  a  small  detachment  from  Le 
Boeuf. 

In  November  the  governor  of  Virginia,  Dinwiddle, 
despatched  Major  George  Washington,  adjutant- 
general  of  the  colonial  militia,  guided  by  Gist,  to 
remonstrate  with  the  French  against  occupying  a 
district  "  so  notoriously  known  to  be  the  property 
of  the  Crown  of  Great  Britain."  *  Washington  was 
then  a  land  surveyor,  only  twenty-one  years  of  age, 
and  represented  one  of  the  foremost  of  the  Virginia 
families.  After  a  dreary  and  hazardous  winter  jour- 
ney over  mountains  and  through  tangled  forests, 
Washington  and  his  small  party  of  attendants  arrived 
late  in  November,  first  at  Venango  and  then  at 
Le  Boeuf.  The  latter 's  commandant  received  the 
envoy  with  marked  politeness,  but  returned  word  to 
Dinwiddle  that  he  should  remain  on  the  ground  and 
await  the  orders  of  his  superior,  the  Marquis  Du- 
quesne,  then  governor  of  Canada. 

The  Ohio  Company,  in  whose  particular  interest 
this  mission  had  been  undertaken,  was  not  popular 
with  the  Virginia  assembly,  just  then  engaged  in  a 
quarrel  with   the  governor  over  land-patent  fees. 

»iV.  Y.  Docs.  Rel.  to  Col.  Hist.,  X.,  258. 


1754]  OUTBREAK    OF    WAR  159 

But  several  of  the  court  party  were  privately  con- 
cerned in  the  project  as  an  investment ;  and  although 
France  and  England  were  at  peace,  Dinwiddle  and 
his  council  decided  to  force  matters  by  a  measure 
which  bore  a  decidedly  warlike  appearance.  Late  in 
1753,  after  the  usual  haggling  with  his  assembly,  the 
governor,  in  behalf  of  the  company,  despatched  a 
party  of  men  under  Captain  William  Trent  to  build 
a  log  fort  at  the  forks.  In  January  the  governor 
wrote  to  his  friend  Lord  Fairfax  that  he  had  further 
decided,  with  consent  of  the  coimcil,  "to  send  im- 
mediately out  200  Men  to  protect  those  already  sent 
by  the  Ohio  Comp'  to  build  a  Fort,  and  to  resist 
any  Attempts  on  them.  I  have  Commission'd  Majoi 
George  Washington,  the  Bearer  hereof,  to  com- 
mand." In  order  to  stimulate  enlistment,  which 
owing  to  popular  indifference  was  extremely  slow, 
the  governor  offered  two  hundred  thousand  acres 
of  land  on  the  Ohio  to  be  divided  among  the  men 
and  officers  of  the  expedition^ — a  part  of  the  three 
million  acres  of  western  lands  to  which  at  various 
times  up  to  1757  Virginia  assumed  to  give  title. 

Dinwiddle  found  it  difficult  to  induce  the  deputies 
to  vote  supplies  for  this  enterprise,  but  finally  they 
were,  in  February,  1754,  persuaded  to  grant  him  the 
slender  allowance  of  ;(J  10,000.  Of  the  other  colonies 
interested.  North  Carolina  alone  offered  aid,  her 
grant  being  sufficient  to  maintain  three  or  four 
hundred  men  in  the  field;  while  the  home  govern- 

^  Journal  of  Washington  (Toner's  ed.),  5. 


i6o  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1754 

ment  allowed  the  use  of  regulars  from  New  York 
and  the  Carolinas.  But  none  of  these  arrived  on  the 
scene  until  after  the  crash  in  July.  On  the  last  day 
of  March,  disappointed  at  the  non-arrival  of  the 
Carolina  troops,  and  hearing  nothing  from  New  York, 
Washington,  now  a  Heutenant  -  colonel,  felt  im- 
pelled to  set  forth  with  his  three  hundred  Virginia 
frontiersmen,  "towards  the  Ohio,  there  to  help 
Captain  Trent  to  build  Forts,  and  to  defend  the 
possessions  of  his  Majesty  against  the  attempts  and 
hostilities  of  the  French."^  His  orders  were  "to 
be  on  the  Defensive,  but  if  oppos'd  by  the  Enemy, 
to  desire  them  to  retire ;  if  they  sh'd  still  persist,  to 
repel  Force  by  Force."  ^ 

Meanwhile,  Trent's  Httle  company  of  thirty-three 
men  had  in  January  commenced  a  stockade  at  the 
forks.  But  in  April  a  force  of  French  and  Indians, 
aggregating  more  than  twenty  times  their  nimiber, 
aided  by  eighteen  pieces  of  light  artillery,  swept 
down  the  Alleghany  in  sixty  bateaux  and  many 
canoes,  and  on  April  17  compelled  the  fort-build- 
ers to  surrender.  The  prisoners  were  promptly 
released  without  harm,  and  allowed  to  retreat  to 
Wills  Creek,  where  Washington  met  them.  Both  he 
and  Dinwiddle  took  the  attitude  that  the  forcible 
expulsion  of  British  troops  from  British  territory 
was  essentially  an  act  of  war.  The  mission  to  the 
Forks  of  the  Ohio  had  now  taken  on  a  very  dan- 

^  Journal  of  Washington  (Toner's  ed.),  7- 
'  Pa.  Colonial  Records,  VI.,  32. 


1754]  OUTBREAK    OF    WAR  i6i 

gerous  aspect;  but  notwithstanding  the  non-arrival 
of  the  promised  reinforcements  from  New  York 
and  North  CaroHna,  Colonel  Washington  set  forth 
with  his  little  army  upon  the  over-moimtain  path, 
determined  to  succeed  where  Trent  had  failed. 

Along  Nemacolin's  Path  over  the  undulating 
Laurel  Hills  were  two  treeless,  springy  valleys— 
the  Little  and  Great  Meadows — where  the  pack- 
trains  of  fur-traders  in  their  trans-Alleghany  trips 
would  unlimber,  that  the  horses  might  be  refreshed 
upon  the  sweet  grasses  of  these  natural  pastures. 
In  the  last  week  of  May,  Washington  arrived  at 
Great  Meadows,  within  a  few  days'  march  of  the 
forks,  and  selected  this  as  his  military  base. 

The  French  had,  in  the  interval,  rapidly  pushed 
to  completion  and  extended  Trent's  work,  calling 
their  stronghold  Fort  Duquesne.  Here  had  been 
gathered  a  considerable  force  of  Canadians,  reg- 
ulars, and  Indian  allies,  a  detachment  from  which, 
led  by  Coulon  de  Jumonville,  persistently  dogged 
Nemacolin's  Path  and  kept  Washington  well  in 
sight.  Upon  May  28,  at  the  head  of  a  scouting 
party,  the  latter  stumbled  upon  Jimionville,  who 
was  in  hiding.  Suspecting  the  intentions  of  an 
enemy  who  had  already  captured  a  British  fort  in 
time  of  nominal  peace  between  the  two  nations, 
and  was  now  suspiciously  haunting  his  path,  the 
Virginia  colonel  promptly  attacked.  "The  action," 
laconically  writes  Washington  in  his  journal,  "only 
lasted  a  quarter  of  an  hour  before  the  enemy  was 


i62  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1754 

routed."  In  this  brief  time  had  been  fired  a  train 
which  led  at  once  to  a  general  conflagration.  Wash- 
ington had  discharged  the  first  shot  in  the  French 
and  Indian  War,  for  the  Trent  affair  had  been 
bloodless.* 

The  Virginians  lost  but  one  killed  and  two  wound- 
ed, but  of  the  French  ten  were  killed,  one  wound- 
ed, and  twenty-one  taken  prisoners.  Among  the 
French  dead  was  Jumonville.  His  compatriots  at 
once  worked  themselves  into  a  frenzy  over  what 
they  called  his  "assassination,"  claiming  that  he 
was  but  bearing  to  Washington  peaceful  despatches. 
There  appears  to  be  small  basis  for  such  a  contention 
— judicious  peace  messengers  do  not  hide  for  days 
on  the  flanks  of  the  enemy  and  act  like  spies. ^ 

On  receipt  of  the  news,  Coulon  de  Villiers,  the 
brother  of  Jumonville,  set  out  from  Fort  Duquesne 
at  the  head  of  an  avenging  expedition,  which  pro- 
ceeded in  boats  up  the  Monongahela  to  Redstone 
Creek;  whereupon  Washington  withdrew  to  Great 
Meadows,  where  he  erected  a  "fort  with  small 
palisades."  The  place  was  unfit  for  defence,  for  on 
three  sides  higher  ground,  heavily  forested,  ap- 
proached closely  to  the  stockade.  But  the  Vir- 
ginians were  by  this  time  sorely  distressed  for 
provisions,    ammunition,    and   other   supplies,    and 

'Washington's  "Journal,"  in  Writings  (Ford's  ed.),  I.,  74, 
75,  88,  90.  See  also  Toner's  edition,  with  notes  by  French 
authorities. 

^  Ibid.,  77-90;  correspondence  between  Druillon  and  Din- 
widdie,  in  Va.  Hist.  Collections,  I.,  225-228. 


1754]  OUTBREAK    OF    WAR  163 

did  not  deem  it  wise  to  retreat  farther;  hence  the 
stockade  was,  in  token  of  their  desperate  stage, 
called  Fort  Necessity. 

Here,  on  July  3,  from  eleven  in  the  morning  until 
eight  o'clock  of  a  dark,  rainy  night,  the  ragged  lit- 
tle band  stood  siege  at  the  hands  of  a  skilled  and 
desperate  enemy,  whites  and  savages,  aggregating 
double  their  number  and  enjoying  the  advantage 
of  natural  cover.  It  was  useless  longer  to  contend 
against  such  odds,  and  Washington  signed  articles 
of  capitulation  ^  in  the  midst  of  a  storm  so  fierce  that 
it  was  with  difficulty  that  the  candle,  brought  to 
illumine  the  pages,  could  be  kept  lighted. 

In  this  document,  which  was  written  in  French, 
Villiers  played  a  petty  trick  by  inserting  a  phrase  in 
which  Jumonville  was  said  to  have  been  "assassi- 
nated '  *  by  the  English.  None  of  the  Virginia  officers 
being  able  to  read  French,  a  Dutch  colleague  named 
Van  Braam,  who  had  conducted  the  negotiations  for 
them,  essayed  a  verbal  translation,  which  in  the  midst 
of  the  tempest  was  necessarily  a  brief  summary. 
Whether  Van  Braam  so  rendered  it  or  not,  the 
officers  understood  him  to  state  that  the  killing  of 
Jumonville  was  referred  to  in  the  paper  as  either  a 
"death"  or  a  "loss."  Washington  himself  after- 
wards indignantly  wrote  that,  "we  were  wilfully  or 
ignorantly  deceived  by  our  interpreter  in  regard  to 
the  word  assassination."  The  French,  on  their  part, 
were  much  elated  over  the  signatures  of  the  Vir- 

*  Text  in  Pa.  Archives,  II.,  145,  146. 


i64  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1754 

ginians  "confessing,"  even  unwittingly,  to  the  truth 
of  the  former's  allegation.' 

The  number  of  French  and  Indians  engaged  in  this 
affair  is  unknown.  Their  loss  was  stated  by  Villiers 
as  two  killed  —  one  Frenchman  and  one  Indian; 
seriously  wounded — fifteen  French  and  two  Indians; 
besides  many  others  slightly  hurt.  Of  Washington's 
three  hundred  men,  he  tells  us  in  his  "Journal" 
that  twelve  were  killed  and  forty-three  wounded. 

At  daybreak  of  July  4  the  "buckskin  general" 
— as  the  French  sneeringly  called  him — marched 
out  over  Nemacolin's  Path  towards  Wills  Creek, 
a  toilsome  journey  of  fifty  miles  across  the  moun- 
tains, the  heart  -  sick  officers  and  men  bearing 
their  baggage  on  their  backs  and  their  wounded  on 
stretchers.  They  were  suffered  to  carry  one  swivel 
with  them,  for  defence  from  the  savages  who  hung 
upon  their  flanks,  and  to  spike  the  eight  left  behind 
them  in  the  fort. 

The  expedition  had  failed,  but  through  no  fault 
of  Washington.  An  expert  frontiersman  and  Indian 
fighter,  despite  his  youth,  his  own  part  had  been 
well  played  throughout,  with  a  proper  admixture 
of  dash,  bravery,  and  caution,  and  his  men  had 
conducted  themselves  with  commendable  coolness. 
The  delay  of  the  Virginia  deputies  had  caused  his 


•  Villiers's  "Journal,"  cited  in  Parkman,  Montcalm  and  Wolfe, 
I.,  158,  and  II.,  App.,  421-423.  Synopsized,  without  reference 
to  the  "confession,"  in  N.  Y.  Docs.  Rel.  to  Col.  Hist.,  X,  260- 
262. 


1 754]  OUTBREAK    OF    WAR  165 

arrival  on  the  scene  too  late  for  effective  action; 
a  month  eariier,  and  the  result  would  probably  have 
been  quite  a  different  story.  As  Dinwiddle,  nettled 
at  being  outmanoeuvred  by  the  French,  but  not 
blaming  his  little  army,  wrote:  "If  the  assembly 
had  voted  the  money  in  November  which  they  did 
in  February,  the  post  would  have  been  built  and 
garrisoned  before  the  French  approached."  * 

As  for  the  two  companies  of  regulars  from  New 
York,  they  arrived  on  the  scene  after  it  was  all 
over,  undisciplined,  lacking  ammunition,  tents,  and 
supplies  of  every  sort,  and  generally  useless.  The 
North  Carolina  militia,  still  less  competent,  mutinied 
en  route  and  scattered  to  their  homes  without  ever 
reaching  Wills  Creek. ^ 

Upon  news  of  Washington's  defeat,  practically  all 
of  the  British  traders  and  pioneers  in  the  country 
beyond  the  mountains  withdrew  to  the  older  settle- 
ments. After  the  middle  of  July,  New  France  was 
once  more  in  complete  possession  of  the  west.  The 
gravity  of  the  situation  appealed  more  strongly 
to  Dinwiddle  than  to  any  other  of  the  provincial 
governors,  save  of  course  Shirley,  of  Massachusetts, 
who  as  a  close  student  of  American  affairs  had  a 
keen  perception  of  the  crisis  now  at  hand.  These 
two  leaders  commenced  a  campaign  for  a  concerted 
intercolonial  movement  against  the  French,  whom 
Dinwiddle  stigmatized  as  "troublesome  people  and 

'  Fortescue,  British  Army,  266. 

^  Ibid.,  267;  Parkman,  Montcalm  and  Wolfe,  I.,  162. 


i66  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1754 

enemies  of  mankind,"  who  had  invaded  "the  un" 
doubted  limits  of  His  Majesty's  dominion." 

None  of  the  assemblies,  outside  of  Virginia  and 
New  England,  rose  to  the  necessities  of  the  case. 
Even  the  Virginia  burgesses,  seeking  to  gain  con- 
cessions from  the  governor,  at  first  persisted  in  at- 
taching riders  to  the  grants  which  were  requested 
from  them,  until  Dinwiddie  cried  in  desperation, 
"A  governor  is  really  to  be  pitied  in  the  discharge 
of  his  duty  to  his  king  and  country,  in  having  to 
do  with  such  obstinate,  self  -  conceited  people."* 
However,  after  a  protracted  wrangle  they  finally 
voted  him  sufficient  for  his  needs.  Governor  Ham- 
ilton, in  Pennsylvania,  quarrelled  all  summer  with 
his  obstinate  assembly,  composed  in  the  main  of 
Quaker  shop  -  keepers,  whose  religious  principles 
were  opposed  to  war,  and  of  peace-loving,  thrifty 
Germans,  who  wanted  but  to  till  their  acres,  and 
concerned  themselves  little  whether  Frenchmen  or 
Englishmen  were  their  political  masters.  They  told 
the  governor  that  they  were  willing  to  give  him 
;i^2 0,000,  but  on  conditions  which  he  could  not 
accept  and  be  faithful  to-  either  his  proprietors 
or  his  king;  moreover,  some  of  the  members  in- 
timated that  they  did  not  propose  to  assist  Virginia 
in  puUing  her  chestnuts  from  the  fire.'     The  New 


'  Dinwiddie  to  Hamilton,  September  6,  1754,  and  to  J.  Aber- 
crombie,  September  i,  1754,  MSS.  in  British  Record  OfTice. 

'^  Pa.  Colonial  Records,  VI.,  i68,  178,  184-186,  299,  300; 
Olden  Time,  II.,  225. 


1754]  OUTBREAK    OF    WAR  167 

York  assembly,  having  little  knowledge  of  or  con- 
cern in  a  country  so  far  away  as  the  Ohio,  at  first 
refused  to  believe  that  the  French  had  actually  in- 
vaded English  territory;  but  at  last  they  voted  a 
tardy  grant  of  ;^5ooo.  New  Jersey,  having  no  Ind- 
ian frontier  to  protect,  with  selfish  bluntness  de- 
clined to  take  part.  Maryland  contributed  £6000. 
New  England  alone,  controlled  by  Massachusetts, 
was  really  eager  and  willing  to  enter  the  strife; 
everywhere  else  the  bulk  of  the  people  were  sluggish- 
ly indifferent. 

While  these  scant  preparations  went  forward  in 
the  provinces,  Dinwiddie  was  persistently  appealing 
for  assistance  to  the  home  authorities,  who  slowly 
awakened  to  some  sense  of  the  importance  of  helping 
their  colonists  regain  the  country  back  from  France, 
and  in  general  asserting  the  right  of  Great  Britain 
to  the  west.  But  the  Duke  of  Newcastle,  then 
prime-minister,  was  of  stuff  too  weak  for  a  national 
crisis,  and  his  propositions  to  Parliament  were  quite 
inadequate.  The  net  result  of  his  aid  was  the 
shipment  to  Virginia  of  ;^io,ooo  in  specie,  two  thou- 
sand stand  of  arms,  and  two  Irish  regiments  of 
five  hundred  men  each,  the  design  being  to  increase 
them  to  the  standard  numbers  by  American  enlist- 
ments. The  Duke  of  Cumberland,  commander-in- 
chief  of  the  army,  selected  as  the  leader  of  this  force 
General  Edward  Braddock,  "an  officer  of  forty-five 
years'  service,  rough,  brutal,  and  insolent,  a  martinet 
of  the  narrov/est  type,  but  wanting  neither  spirit  nor 


1 68  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1754 

ability,  and  brave  as  a  lion."  *  It  was  also  ordered 
that  two  new  regiments  of  the  line  be  raised  in 
America,  with  a  thousand  men  each,  under  the 
colonelcies  of  Shirley  and  Pepperrell — the  former, 
it  will  be  remembered,  having  sponsored  and  the 
latter  commanded  the  expedition  against  Louisburg 
in  1745.' 

A  few  wise  men  had  long  favored  some  form  of 
union  to  secure  intercolonial  action  in  great  pub- 
lic emergencies.  The  New  England  Confederation 
(1643- 1 684),  which  sought  to  bind  together  the  four 
northern  colonies  in  "a  firm  and  perpetual  league 
of  friendship  and  amity  for  offence  and  defence, 
mutual  advice  and  succor,  upon  all  just  occasions," 
was  little  more  than  a  committee  of  public  safety.' 
The  first  continental  conference,  held  at  Albany  in 
1690,  for  treating  with  the  Iroquois  against  the 
common  enemy,  has  already  been  alluded  to.*  It 
was,  however,  the  government  party  which  usually 
urged  formal  unions,  and  consequently  they  were 
unkindly  looked  upon  as  a  possible  vehicle  for  roy- 
al control.  Several  times  during  the  Indian  wars 
there  were  held  informal  neighborhood  congresses, 
chiefly  to  negotiate  with  the  tribesmen  or  for  com- 
mon defence;  these  were  principally  attended  by 
the  official  class,  and  attracted  little  popular  atten- 


'  Fortescue,  British  Army,  268.  *  See  chap,  vii.,  above. 

'Tyler,  England  in  America  {Am.  Nation,  V.),  chap,  xviii. 
*  Frothingham,  Rise  of  the  Republic,  89-93;  see  also  chap,  ii., 
above. 


1754]  OUTBREAK    OF    WAR  169 

tion,  although  they  served  in  a  measure  to  accustom 
the  people  to  the  spectacle  of  colonial  union  for 
matters  of  common  interest. 

The  first  really  significant  colonial  congress  was 
held  in  1754  at  Albany,  then  a  palisaded  frontier 
village  of  twenty-six  hundred  people.  The  previous 
August,  Lord  Holdernesse,  British  secretary  of  state, 
addressed  a  note  to  the  governors  urging  them  to  re- 
sist French  territorial  encroachments,  even  to  the  use 
of  armed  force.  This  was  followed  in  September  by 
a  letter  to  the  governors  from  the  Lords  of  Trade, 
directing  them  to  hold  a  convention  to  treat  with  the 
Iroquois  —  just  then  being  tampered  with  by  the 
French — and  if  not  possible  to  secure  their  alliance, 
at  least  to  obtain  a  promise  of  neutrality.  The 
governors  were  to  "take  care  that  all  the  provinces 
be  comprised,  if  practicable,  in  one  great  treaty." 
The  provinces  were  also  urged  to  adopt  "  articles  of 
union  and  confederation  with  each  other  for  the 
mutual  defence  of  his  Majesty's  subjects  and  in- 
terests in  North  America,  as  well  in  time  of  peace 
as  war." 

The  congress  met  at  Albany  on  June  19,  being 
presided  over  by  Lieutenant-Governor  Delancy, 
of  New  York,  Massachusetts  and  New  York  each 
sent  five  commissioners,  New  Hampshire  and  Penn- 
sylvania four  each,  Connecticut  three,  and  Rhode 
Island  and  Maryland  each  two — twenty-five  in  all. 
Among  them  were  some  of  the  most  prominent 
men   in   the    English    colonies,   those   best    known 


lyo  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1754 

in  our  day  being  Thomas  Hutchinson  of  Massachu- 
setts, Stephen  Hopkins  of  Rhode  Island,  WilHam 
Johnson  of  New  York,  and  Benjamin  Franklin  of 
Pennsylvania.  Hutchinson  and  Franklin  were  re- 
spectively the  strongest  types  of  the  aristocratic 
and  popular  parties. 

In  the  last  week  of  June  the  commissioners  met  a 
hundred  and  fifty  Iroquois  chiefs  in  council.  Hen- 
drick,  a  Mohawk  sachem,  dominated  his  fellows, 
and  was  not  slow  to  taunt  the  EngHsh  with  the 
feeble  character  of  their  occupation  of  the  coun- 
try. "Look  at  the  French:  they  are  men;  they  are 
fortifying  everywhere.  But  you  are  all  like  women, 
bare  and  open,  without  fortifications."  The  con- 
ference was  in  this  regard  without  tangible  results. 
The  chiefs  were  loaded  with  presents;  but  the 
commissioners  not  having  the  power  to  grant  all  of 
the  numerous  native  demands,  the  tribesmen  re- 
turned home  obviously  dissatisfied. 

Meanwhile  a  committee  of  seven  of  the  ablest  men 
in  the  congress  considered  at  length  a  plan  of  union. 
This  was  finally  draughted  by  Franklin  upon  July 
10,  and  tentatively  adopted  the  same  day.  Only 
the  New  England  members  were  authorized  to  enter 
into  a  definite  agreement  relative  to  confederation. 
It  was  necessary  that  the  plan  be  laid  before  the 
provinces,  and  later  transmitted  to  Whitehall  for 
ratification.  The  scheme  provided  for  the  appoint- 
ment and  support  by  the  crown  of  a  president- 
general,  and  the  formation  of  a  grand,  or  federal, 


1754]  OUTBREAK    OF    WAR  171 

council  composed  of  representatives  from  each 
province,  and  to  meet  once  a  year.  The  president- 
general  was  to  possess  the  veto  power  over  the 
council's  acts,  the  right  of  nominating  military 
officers  and  commissioning  all  officials,  and,  in  con- 
junction with  the  council,  to  have  the  management 
of  Indian  affairs.  The  council  was  to  elect  a  speak- 
er, make  treaties  with  the  Indians,  control  public 
lands,  enact  laws,  levy  taxes,  nominate  civil  offi- 
cers, jointly  control  all  expenditures,  raise  and  pay 
soldiers,  build  forts,  and  appoint  not  only  a  federal 
treasurer,  but  one  in  each  province ;  and  unless  its 
laws  were  disapproved  by  the  king  within  three 
years  they  should  remain  in  force.  Local  colonial 
administration  was  not  to  be  interfered  with.* 

The  congress  had  attracted  but  small  attention 
from  the  general  public,  and  each  of  the  assemblies 
promptly  rejected  the  plan,  even  Massachusetts  men 
not  being  "  inclined  to  part  with  so  great  a  share  of 
power  as  was  to  be  given  to  this  general  govern- 
ment."^ The  Privy  Council  took  no  action,  and  the 
Lords  of  Trade  thought  it  un-English.  Franklin 
thus  summarized  the  causes  of  opposition:  "The 
Crown  disapproved  of  it,  as  having  too  much  weight 

'Text  in  Franklin,  Writings  (Sparks's  ed.),  III.,  36-55;  see 
also  A''.  Y.  Docs.  Rel.  to  Col.  Hist.,Yl.,ior  documents  appertaining 
to  the  congress;  Journal  of  Proceedings,  in  Mass.  Hist.  Soc, 
Collections,  3d  series,  V.;  general  discussion  in  Frothingham, 
Rise  of  the  Republic,  134-149;  Foster,  "Hopkins,"  in  R.  I.  Hist. 
Tracts,  XIX.,  chap.  vi. 

^  Hutchinson,  Hist,  of  Mass.  Bay,  III.,  23. 


172  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1754 

in  the  democratic  form  of  the  constitution,  and  every 
assembly  as  having  allowed  too  much  to  preroga- 
tive."* No  further  attempts  at  formal  colonial 
union  were  made,  until  out  of  the  stress  of  the 
Revolution  was  evolved  the  Continental  Congress 
which  signed  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 

*  Carey's  American  Museum  (i 789) ,  V. ,  368 ;  Frothingham,  Rise 
of  the  Republic,  149. 


CHAPTER   XI 

A    YEAR    OF    DISASTER 
(i75S) 

GENERAL  BRADDOCK  arrived  at  Alexandria 
with  his  two  regiments  towards  the  end  of 
March  (1755),  and  at  his  camp  was  held  (April  14) 
a  conference  between  the  governors  of  Virginia, 
Massachusetts,  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  and  Mary- 
land. Shirley,  although  without  military  experi- 
ence in  the  field,  had  already  planned  a  campaign, 
and  his  ideas  were  in  the  main  adopted  by  the  general. 
Four  expeditions  were  determined  upon:  Braddock 
and  his  coliimn  were  to  undertake  an  offensive  cam- 
paign against  Fort  Duquesne ;  Shirley,  with  Pepper- 
rell  second  in  command,  was  with  the  two  freshly 
recruited  regiments  to  attack  the  French  fort  at 
Niagara,  and  thus  seize  upon  the  lake  route  to  the 
west;  William  Johnson,  not  a  military  man,  but 
possessed  of  immense  influence  over  the  Iroquois 
and  other  tribes  allied  with  the  English,  was  to  lead 
the  provincial  militia  from  New  England  and  New 
York  against  Crown  Point,  on  Lake  Champlain,  with 
the  design  of  checking  the  French  advance  from  the 
north  and  furnishing  a  base  for  an  ultimate  British 

173 


174  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1755 

expedition  against  Montreal ;  and,  lastly,  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  Robert  Monckton  was  to  proceed  to  the 
isthmus  connecting  the  Nova-Scotian  peninsula  with 
the  continent,  and  by  reducing  Fort  Beaus6jour  and 
its  dependent  stockades  to  cut  off  Acadia  from 
New  France  and  render  it  possible  to  subdue  this 
hotbed  of  French-Indian  forays  against  the  New 
England  borders. 

Military  critics  now  consider  that  it  was  a  mis- 
taken policy  to  divide  the  attack  on  the  French 
centre  by  sending  expeditions  against  both  Fort 
Duquesne  and  Fort  Niagara,  and  that  better  results 
might  have  been  obtained  had  the  English  assault 
been  concentrated  upon  the  latter.  Another  un- 
doubtedly just  criticism  is  that  Braddock  committed 
a  fatal  blunder  in  following  Washington's  wilderness 
road  to  the  Ohio,  and  making  Fort  Cumberland 
his  principal  base.  It  was  a  circuitous,  rough,  and 
unsettled  route,  lacking  in  forage  and  transport,  and 
affording  abundant  cover  for  his  foes ;  whereas,  had 
he  proceeded  westward  from  Philadelphia,  he  would 
have  had  the  advantage,  much  of  the  way,  of  a 
settled  country  abounding  in  supplies  and  the  means 
of  transport.* 

Virginia  was  poorly  supplied  with  wagons  and 
horses,  for  rivers  and  bays  were  her  principal  routes 
of  commerce,  so  that  these  had  to  be  obtained  in 
Pennsylvania,  where  Franklin's  prestige  alone  suc- 
ceeded   in   wheedling   them   out    of   the    reluctant 

'  Fortescue,  British  Army,  270. 


1755]  YEAR    OF    DISASTER  175 

people.  Braddock  wrote  (June  5)  to  the  secretary 
of  state  for  the  colonies:  "  I  desired  Mr.  B.  Franklin, 
post  master  of  Pennsylvania,  who  has  great  credit  in 
that  province,  to  hire  me  one  hundred  and  fifty 
waggons  and  the  number  of  horses  necessary,  which 
he  did  with  so  much  goodness  and  readiness,  that  it 
is  almost  the  first  instance  of  integrity,  address  and 
abiHty  that  I  have  seen  in  all  these  provinces."  ' 

All  this  occasioned  great  delay,  which  was  not 
decreased  by  the  bad  blood  soon  evident  between 
Braddock  and  the  provincial  militia,  whom  he 
and  his  officers  treated  with  insufferable  arrogance. 
However,  he  invited  Washington  to  be  of  his  staff, 
with  rank  of  major,  which  indicated  that  the  general 
was  not  altogether  insensible  to  the  value  of  local 
knowledge  and  methods.  On  his  part,  the  young 
major  appears  to  have  developed  a  certain  fondness 
for  the  brave  but  blustering  veteran  of  Fontenoy, 
who  must  not  be  overblamed,  for  he  himself  was 
the  victim  of  Newcastle's  weakness  in  being  sent 
out  with  insufficient  and  unsuitable  men  and  equip- 
ment suddenly  to  face  conditions  never  before  con- 
fronted by  a  British  general. 

On  May  10  the  column  reached  Fort  Cumberland. 
The  two  regular  regiments  had  now  been  recruited 
up  to  seven  hundred  men  each ;  there  were  a  few  ar- 
tillerymen and  "  handy  "  marines ;  the  Virginia  militia 
numbered  four  hundred  and  fifty  picked  Indian 
fighters,  who  knew  the  rules  of  the  game  and  proved 

^  Olden  Time,  II.,  237. 


176  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1755 

the  backbone  of  the  expedition,  although  these 
buckskin-clad  backwoods  settlers,  who  obeyed  only 
their  own  popularly  elected  officers — and  those  none 
too  well  —  were  as  yet  held  in  contempt  by  the 
veteran  regulars;  and  fifty  Indians,  gay  in  war- 
paint and  feathers,  served  as  scouts,  much  to  the 
amazement  of  Tommy  Atkins,  who  was  not  accus- 
tomed to  serving  with  such  outlandish  allies.* 

Braddock  well  understood  European  tactics,  and 
had  a  fine  reputation  at  home;  but  he  was  now 
amid  conditions  heretofore  undreamed  of  by  him; 
moreover,  he  was  not  an  organizer.  He  wasted 
just  a  month  waiting  for  his  cannon,  so  that  it 
was  June  10  before  he  started  to  cross  the  divide. 
Washington's  road  had  to  be  widened  for  the  ar- 
tillery and  transport  wagons.  Three  hundred  axe- 
men cleared  the  way,  but  progress  was  so  slow  that 
in  eight  days  only  thirty  miles  had  been  covered, 
and  men  and  horses  were  worn  out  and  ailing. 
Braddock's  deliberateness — for  he  stopped  "  to  level 
every  molehill  and  to  throw  a  bridge  over  every 
brook"' — was  exasperating  to  the  provincials,  who 
realized  that  haste  was  necessary. 

Sixteen  days  out  from  Fort  Cumberland,  news 
came  that  the  French  had  taken  advantage  of  the 
English  delay  to  throw  an  additional  force  into  Fort 
Duquesne,  and  that  a  detachment  therefrom  was 
awaiting  them  on  the  path.    On  Washington's  advice, 

'  Parkman,  Montcalm  and  Wolfe,  I.,  263. 
'  Fortescue,   British  Army,  273. 


1755]  YEAR    OF    DISASTER  177 

Braddock  selected  twelve  hundred  men,  with  a  few 
cannon,  wagons,  and  pack-horses,  and  pushed  for- 
ward to  meet  the  enemy.  Colonel  Dunbar  was  to 
follow  at  a  slower  pace,  in  charge  of  the  heavy 
baggage  and  the  reserves.  On  July  8,  1755,  at  the 
mouth  of  Turtle  Creek,  an  affluent  of  the  Monon- 
gahela,  eight  miles  from  Fort  Duquesne,  Braddock 's 
way  led  through  a  "wide  and  bushy  ravine."  The 
road  was  filled  with  the  wagons  and  artillery,  the 
soldiers  marched  through  the  woods  on  either  side, 
and  flanking  parties  and  Indian  scouts  ranged  still 
farther  afield.  There  was  certainly  no  lack  of 
caution. 

The  commandant  of  the  fort,  Contrecoeur,  had 
now  in  garrison  a  few  companies  of  seasoned  French 
regulars,  a  large  body  of  Canadian  militia,  every 
man  of  them  familiar  with  the  tactics  of  bush- 
ranging,  and  some  nine  hundred  Indians  gathered 
from  the  Ohio  River  and  points  as  far  west  as 
Michigan  and  Wisconsin.'  He  detached  Captain 
Beaujeu,  with  70  regulars,  150  Canadians,  and  650 
Indians,  to  meet  Braddock's  advance.  For  several 
days  previous  to  reaching  the  fatal  ravine,  where 
were  stationed  Beaujeu  and  his  main  party,  the 
coliimn  had  suffered  slightly  from  individual  Ind- 
ian attacks  upon  its  flanks,  and,  as  the  march  pro- 
ceeded, signs  of  the  hovering  enemy  multiplied. 

It   was   long   believed    that    Beaujeu    ambushed 

'  There  is  a  tradition,  not  verifiable,  that  Pontiac,  afterwards 
famous  in  our  annals,  headed  the  Ottawa  from  eastern  Michigan. 


178  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1755 

Braddock.  This  is  not  so;  what  occurred  was  a 
regulation  forest  fight,  in  which  the  French  and 
their  allies  flanked  the  British  on  either  side,  drove 
them  in  towards  the  road,  and,  from  behind  the 
trees  or  fallen  trunks,  poured  into  the  struggling, 
disordered  mass  of  men  and  horses  a  withering 
fire,  while  they  themselves  were  completely  hid- 
den. 

Had  Braddock  left  his  men  to  their  own  devices, 
it  is  possible  that  the  day  might  even  here  have 
been  saved.  The  Virginians,  as  a  matter  of  course, 
adopted  the  Indian  method  of  seeking  individual 
cover,  and — to  use  a  term  now  familiar  to  us,  as 
a  product  of  the  British-Boer  war — "sniping"  the 
assailants.  Many  of  the  British  soldiers,  no  longer 
contemptuous  of  the  border  sharp-shooters,  attempt- 
ed to  follow  their  example;  but  Braddock,  with  an 
utter  disregard  of  self,  rode  to  and  fro — four  horses 
being  shot  under  him — deriding  his  men  as  "  coward- 
ly curs,"  and  driving  them  with  the  flat  of  his  sword 
back  into  the  ranks.  Here,  in  their  bright  scarlet 
coats,  they  were  not  only  mowed  down  by  the  enemy 
like  a  field  of  poppies,  but  their  own  blind  volleys 
were  disastrous  to  the  provincials  in  front  of  them. 
Washington  indignantly  wrote  to  Dinwiddie  that 
only  thirty  Virginians  were  left  alive  out  of  three 
companies,  "while  the  dastardly  behavior  of  the 
English  soldiers  exposed  all  those  who  were  in- 
clined to  do  their  duty  to  almost  certain  death.  .  . . 
Two  thirds  of  both  killed  and  wounded  received 


1755]  YEAR    OF    DISASTER  179 

their  shots  from   our  own  cowardly  dogs  of  sol» 
diers.'" 

Beaujeu  was  killed  early  in  the  fray,  whereupon 
his  men  fled  precipitately;  but  his  second,  Dumas, 
rallied  them  to  a  fresh  attack.  The  honors  of  the 
day,  however,  such  as  they  were,  lay  largely  with 
Charles  de  Langlade,  a  Wisconsin  fur-trader,  who, 
independently  of  Dumas,  headed  his  savage  band  of 
Chippewa,  Menominee,  Potawatomi,  Ottawa,  and 
Huron  from  the  upper  lakes,  in  the  final  assault 
which  at  the  end  of  two  hoiurs  of  hideous  tumult 
shattered  the  British  column,^ 

" —  Down  the  long  trail,  from  the  Fort  to  the  ford, 
Naked  and  streaked,  plunge  a  moccasin'd  horde: 
Huron  and  Wyandot,  hot  for  the  bout; 
Shawnee  and  Ottawa,  barring  him  out! 

"  'Twixt  the  pit  and  the  crest,  'twixt  the  rocks  and  the 

grass, 
Where   the   bush   hides   the   foe   and  the  foe  holds  the 

pass, 
Beaujeu  and  Pontiac,  striving  amain; 
Huron  and  Wyandot,  jeering  the  slain!"' 

Braddock  himself  was  pierced  through  an  arm 
and  the  lungs  just  as  the  break  occurred,  and  it 
fell  to  Major  Washington,  whose  imiform  was  riddled 

^Washington,  Writings  (Ford's  ed.),  I.,  173-175. 

^Wis.  Hist.  Collections,  III.,  212-215,  VII.,  130-135;  Low- 
dermilk,  Cumberland,  176-178;  Parkman,  Montcalm  and  Wolfe, 
II.,  App.,  425,  426. 

^  John  Williamson  Palmer,  "Ned  Braddock,"  in  Yale  Alumni 
Weekly,  October  28,  1903. 


i8o  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1755 

with  bullets  and  who  had  performed  many  feats  of 
valor  upon  the  field,  to  conduct  the  retreat  to 
Christopher  Gist's  "plantation  "  near  by,  after  fail- 
ing to  rally  the  panic-stricken  horde.  As  for  Dun- 
bar, with  the  heavy  reserves,  he  had  (July  2)  gone 
into  camp  high  up  on  the  Laurel  Hills.  When 
news  came  of  the  cruel  disaster  in  the  ravine,  panic 
at  once  overcame  him  and  his  men.  Assistance  to 
Braddock  was  unthought  of,  ammunition  and  stores 
were  destroyed  by  wholesale,*  and  a  disgraceful  and 
disorderly  flight  ensued  all  the  way  back  to  Fort 
Cumberland.^  Among  the  fleeing  wagoners  in  this 
sorry  rout,  riding  one  of  his  horses  whose  traces  he 
had  cut,  was  young  Daniel  Boone,  then  a  borderer 
on  the  uplands  of  North  Carolina.^ 

Nothing  was  now  left  for  the  decimated  advance 
but  to  follow  the  cowardly  reserves,  which  they  did 
in  a  far  more  orderly  and  leisurely  fashion;  for  it 
was  evident  that,  contrary  to  the  reports  of  frenzied 
stragglers,  the  French  and  Indians  were  not  pursuing 
them.  Indeed,  the  latter  had,  when  contemplating 
the  frightful  slaughter  wrought  in  the  defile,  them- 
selves become  panic-stricken  in  their  fear  of  ven- 
geance, and  were  flying  northward  almost  as  fast  as 
the  British  were  scurrying  back  over  the  ill-fated 
path  of  Nemacolin.  July  10,  while  upon  the  sad 
march,  Braddock  died  from  his  wounds,  his  last 
words  being,  "Another  time  we  shall  know  better 

»  Orme's  account  in  Lowdermilk,  Cumberland,  181. 

^  Ibid.,  183.  s  Thwaites,  Daniel  Boone,  21. 


1755]  YEAR    OF    DISASTER  i8i 

how  to  deal  with  them."  He  had  learned  his  les- 
son, but  too  late  to  apply  it.^  On  the  17th  the  last 
of  the  dismal  train  arrived  under  shelter  of  Fort 
Cumberland. 

The  disaster  was  complete.  Fort  Duquesne  had 
not  been  taken,  and  much  ground  had  been  lost, 
in  territory  as  well  as  prestige.  Probably  not  a 
British  settler  or  trader  now  remained  west  of  the 
mountains.  The  French  continued  in  absolute  con- 
trol of  the  trans-Alleghany  country,  and  now  even 
held  sway  eastward  of  the  Laurel  Hills,  to  within 
sight  of  Fort  Cumberland,  a  condition  of  affairs 
destined  to  last  through  three  years  to  come.  Large 
stores  of  costly  ammunition,  supplies,  and  trans- 
port had  ruthlessly  been  destroyed ;  and  of  the  force 
of  nineteen  hundred  men  sent  into  the  field  less 
than  five  hundred  were  unharmed,  against  a  loss  to 
the  allied  enemy  of  about  twenty-five. 

The  expedition  against  Crown  Point,  under  Will- 
iam Johnson,  comprised  three  thousand  raw  pro- 
vincials from  New  England  and  some  three  hun- 
dred Indians.  Provincial  jealousies  and  faulty  or- 
ganization caused  the  usual  delay,  so  that  it  was 
well  into  July  before  camp  was  formed  at  Albany, 
which  had  been  selected  as  the  base.  About  the 
middle  of  August  the  column  moved  leisurely  up 

'  Sargeant,  Braddock's  Expedition,  233-237.  For  description 
of  Jumonville's  camp,  the  site  of  Fort  Necessity,  Braddock's 
grave,  and  Dunbar's  camp,  as  they  appear  to-day,  see  Thwaites, 
"A  Day  on  Braddock's  Road,"  in  How  George  Rogers  Clark 
Won  the  Northwest,  etc. 


i82  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1755 

the  Hudson  to  the  "great  carrying  place"  between 
that  river  and  Lake  George,  and  here  Fort  Edward 
(at  first  called  Fort  Lyman) ,  a  stockaded  storehouse, 
was  commenced.  Five  hundred  men  being  kept 
here  to  complete  the  work  and  guard  it,  a  provok- 
ingly  slow  advance  was  made  along  the  fourteen- 
mile  portage  to  the  lake. 

While  the  provincials  were  thus  wasting  time,  the 
French  were  active.  Duquesne  had  been  replaced 
as  governor  of  New  France  by  the  Marquis  de 
Vaudreuil,  who  in  the  spring  (1755)  sailed  for 
Canada  in  company  with  Baron  Dieskau  as  com- 
mander-in-chief and  several  battalions  of  regulars. 
Documents  found  on  the  field  of  Braddock's  de- 
feat had  given  ample  information  of  the  English 
plans  of  campaign,  so  that  Johnson  discovered 
Dieskau  awaiting  him  near  the  end  of  the  path  with 
3573  regulars,  Canadians,  and  savages.  Several 
skirmishes  ensued,  in  one  of  which  five  hundred  of 
the  English  were  caught  and  crushed  in  an  am- 
buscade, and  in  another  Dieskau  was  not  only  de- 
feated but  himself  wounded  and  taken  prisoner. 
This  advantage,  however,  Johnson  failed  to  follow  up, 
and,  pleading  illness,  scarcity  of  food  and  ammuni- 
tion, and  the  undoubted  lack  of  discipline  and  har- 
mony among  his  troops,  he  frittered  away  his  time 
until  the  close  of  November.  He  built  Fort  William 
Henry  at  the  foot  of  Lake  George,  but  left  Crown 
Point  untouched.  The  expedition  was  a  failure; 
nevertheless,  the    home   government,   probably   in 


1755]  YEAR    OF    DISASTER  183 

view  of  his  Iroquois  ascendency,  made  him  a  baro- 
net and  obtained  for  him  a  parHamentary  grant  of 
£5000/ 

Despite  his  planning  of  the  Louisburg  campaign 
eleven  years  before,  Governor  Shirley  was  unfitted 
to  command  the  enterprise  of  reducing  Fort  Niag- 
ara. His  colleague,  Pepperrell,  had  gained  some 
experience  during  the  Cape  Breton  affair,  but  was 
likewise  unequal  to  the  present  emergency.  Their 
two  regiments  of  gayly  imiformed  but  undisciplined 
provincial  recruits  of  the  line — in  "  silver- laced  hat," 
"fine  scarlet  broadcloth,"  and  "hair  or  wigs  pow- 
dered"^— were  joined  by  a  militia  regiment  from 
New  Jersey,  the  column  aggregating  twenty-five 
himdred  men. 

Rendezvousing  at  Albany  in  July,  the  party  as- 
cended the  Mohawk  in  bateaux  to  the  great  port- 
age (at  Rome),  and  crossing  through  the  dense 
forest  over  to  Wood  Creek,  with  their  boats  on 
sledges,  thence  descended  to  Fort  Ontario,  at 
Oswego.  But  the  French,  of  course  now  quite 
aware  of  all  the  English  plans,  had  thrown  a  large 
reinforcement  into  Fort  Frontenac  (the  present 
Kingston),  which  served  completely  to  checkmate 
Shirley;  for  that  officer  at  once  reaHzed  that  he 
must  now  first  reduce  Kingston,  else  as  soon  as  he 

^^^  Y.  Docs.  Rel.  to  Col.  Hist.,  VII.,  158;  Stone,  Sir  William 
Johnson,  I.,  526,  554. 

2  Letter  of  Sergeant  James  Gray,  in  Parkman,  Montcalm  and 
Wolfe,  I.,  321. 


i84  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1755 

was  embarked  on  the  lake  for  Niagara  the  former 
garrison  would  cross  over  and  capture  his  base. 
Lacking  in  supplies,  which  failed  to  follow  him  in 
season — the  commissariat  and  transportation  were 
generally  weak,  on  the  English  side,  through  lack 
of  organization — Shirley  deemed  it  inadvisable  to 
attempt  this  double  task,  and  therefore  left  for 
home  at  the  close  of  October.  The  only  result  of 
his  venture  was  the  leaving  of  a  garrison  of  seven 
hundred  men  at  Oswego,  as  a  menace  to  French 
operations  on  the  Great  Lakes.* 

Monckton's  expedition  against  Fort  Beausejour, 
on  the  Acadian  isthmus,  was  the  only  successful 
enterprise  of  the  season.  We  have  already  referred* 
to  the  sad  condition  of  the  habitants  and  fishermen 
of  Acadia.  The  treaty  of  Utrecht  (17 13)  had  given 
them  "liberty  to  remove  themselves  within  a  year 
to  any  other  place,  as  they  shall  think  fit,  with  all 
their  movable  effects."  But  although  they  were 
anxious  to  betake  themselves  to  Cape  Breton  and 
Prince  Edward  Island,  various  obstacles  were  placed 
in  their  path  by  Lieutenant  -  Governor  Vetch,  who 
represented  to  the  authorities  in  London  that  their 
removal  would  "wholly  strip  and  Ruine  Nova 
Scotia,"  and  "at  once  make  Cape  Brittoun  a  popu- 
lous and  well  stocked  Colony"  of  France.^     Forced, 


'TV.  Y.  Docs.  Rel.  to  Col.  Hist.,  VI.,  953-959,  994-996;  Pa. 
Archives,  II.,  338,  348,  381,  402,  413-437;  N.  H.  Provincial 
Papers,  VI.,  432.  '  See  chap,  vi.,  above. 

'  Documents  in  Richard,  Acadia,  I.,  73-98. 


1755]  YEAR    OF    DISASTER  185 

therefore,  against  their  will  to  remain  under  the  Eng- 
lish flag,  it  is  not  unnatural  that  the  majority  of  them, 
especially  when  so  advised  by  their  priests,  should 
decline  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  British 
king,  whom  they  execrated  as  a  heretic  and  whose 
race  they  despised.  They  were,  indeed,  kept  in  a 
constant  ferment  of  disaffection  by  the  French 
military  and  ecclesiastical  agents  who  circulated 
freely  among  them.  Not  only  was  this  spirit  pre- 
venting Great  Britain  from  developing  the  Nova 
Scotia  peninsula,  but  British  authority  actually  ex- 
tended no  farther  than  could  be  seen  from  the  walls 
of  the  few  forts  erected  by  the  conquerors — chief 
among  them  being  Annapolis  and  Halifax. 

These  posts  were  weak,  and  geographically  iso- 
lated from  the  other  colonies,  so  that  the  garrisons 
lived  in  perpetual  fear  of  being  overwhelmed  by 
the  settlers  and  their  aboriginal  friends,  who  were 
equally  of  a  warlike  disposition;  for  Acadia,  which 
for  a  full  century  past  had  been  a  centre  for  French 
and  Indian  forays  against  New  England,  could 
now  muster  on  occasion  two  thousand  experienced 
French  bush-rangers  and  a  much  larger  contingent 
of  savage  and  half-breed  allies.  When  the  present 
troubles  arose,  the  French  had  converted  Fort 
Beaus^jour  into  a  formidable  stronghold,  which  con- 
trolled the  entire  neck  of  connecting  land,  and 
many  of  the  most  active  Acadian  hotheads  had  re- 
moved to  its  neighborhood.  The  majority  of  the 
habitants,  however,  remained  peacefully  but  stub- 


i86  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1755 

bornly  upon  their  diked  fields  in  the  long  and  ad- 
jacent tidal  basins  of  Annapolis  and  Mines,  which 
were  then,  as  they  still  are,  the  "garden"  of  Nova 
Scotia.^ 

The  situation  was  uncomfortable  for  all  concerned. 
The  French  authorities,  with  small  regard  for  the 
welfare  of  the  Acadians,  were  using  them  merely  as 
pawns  in  the  international  game.  Proceeding  on 
the  contention,  which  was  certainly  admissible  un- 
der the  clumsy  phrasing  of  the  treaty  of  Utrecht — 
although  long  usage  was  to  the  contrary  —  that 
Acadia  meant  simply  Annapolis  and  its  immediate 
neighborhood,  New  France  was  now  claiming  the 
greater  part  of  Nova  Scotia.  Fort  Beausejour  and 
two  or  three  outlying  posts  constituted  the  opening 
wedge  of  occupation.  The  French  were  using  every 
possible  means  to  inflame  the  Acadians  to  attack 
the  Kennebec  border  while  New  England  was  busy 
in  the  west,  and  plans  were  hatching  to  concentrate 
troops  at  Louisburg  for  this  purpose.^  It  therefore 
seemed  to  the  British  of  the  utmost  importance  that 
a  blow  should  be  struck  at  Beausejour,  and  the 
threatened  inroad  prevented.  Moreover,  from  the 
naval  point  of  view,  with  Acadia  lost,  Great  Britain's 
hold  upon  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  the  chief  gate- 
way to  New  France,  would  be  greatly  weakened; 

'  Richard,  Acadia,  chaps,  xix.-xxvi. 

*  Shirley's  correspondence  with  the  British  ministry,  in 
1 754-1755,  the  oricjinals  of  which  are  in  the  Record  Office  at 
London,  and  are  cited  by  Parkman,  Montcalm  and  Wolfe,  give 
ample  evidence  of  this. 


1755]  YEAR    OF    DISASTER  187 

and  this  it  was  necessary  to  maintain  for  the  great 
and  final  struggle  for  continental  mastery  which 
could  not  much  longer  be  postponed. 

Monckton's  force  consisted  of  a  few  regulars  and 
two  thousand  untrained  New  England  volunteers, 
who,  sailing  up  the  Bay  of  Fundy,  arrived  before 
Fort  Beausejour  on  June  i.^  The  commandant  of 
the  fortress  was  Duchambon  de  Vergor,  a  rascally 
fellow,  who,  under  the  patronage  of  the  notorious 
Intendant  Bigot,  had  enriched  himself  by  wholesale 
peculation.  With  him  was  associated  Le  Loutre,  a 
fanatical  missionary  who  had  been  prominent  in  the 
work  of  securing  the  Acadians  to  the  French  and 
who  took  a  large  part  in  the  present  defence.  After 
a  fortnight's  siege  the  fort  was  surrendered;  and 
word  coming  from  Louisburg  that  no  assistance  could 
be  rendered  because  British  ships  were  blockading 
that  harbor,  Acadia  was  at  the  mercy  of  Monckton. 

There  was  now  committed  by  him  and  his  assist- 
ants an  act  of  harshness  which  doubtless  was  sanc- 
tioned by  the  stern  necessities  of  war,  for  by  its 
operation  Acadia  ceased  thenceforth  to  be  a  problem 
to  the  military  authorities  of  England.  But  the 
result  was  wide-spread  misery ;  and  when  it  is  con- 
sidered that  this  unhappy  people  had  in  the  pre- 
vious generation,  forty  years  before,  been  kept  in  the 
country  against  their  will,  we  may  well  consider 
this  event  one  of  the  most  lamentable  in  the  history 
of  the  British  advance  in  America. 

'Parkman,  Montcalm  and  Wolfe,  I.,  24i-24;7, 


i88  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1755 

Allowed  one  last  opportunity  to  take  the  oath  of 
allegiance,  the  Acadians,  inspired  by  their  priests, 
once  more  deliberately  refused.  Thereupon  their 
houses,  lands,  and  cattle  were  peremptorily  confis- 
cated, and  nearly  seven  thousand  of  them — some- 
what less  than  a  half  of  the  population  of  the  entire 
peninsula — were  in  October  packed  aboard  trans- 
ports, with  little  regard  for  their  comfort  or  health, 
and  unloaded  as  houseless  paupers  at  various  Eng- 
lish settlements  along  the  coast,  all  the  way  from 
Massachusetts  to  Georgia.  For  the  most  part  they 
suffered  untold  hardships  before  adapting  themselves 
to  their  new  surroundings.  Many  settled  in  France, 
and  in  Santo  Domingo  and  other  West  India  islands ; 
but  nearly  all  of  these  eventually  (178 4- 1787),  after 
thirty  years  of  "suffering  all  the  heart-burnings  of 
separation,  exile,  death,  misery  in  all  its  multitudi- 
nous forms,"  found  an  asylum  among  the  people  of 
their  own  speech  and  blood  in  the  then  Spanish- 
dominated  province  of  Louisiana,  where  their  de- 
scendants form  to-day  a  distinct  agricultural  popu- 
lation. Others,  upon  the  return  of  peace,  crept 
back  "  in  a  long  and  dolorous  pilgrimage"  to  their 
beloved  and  once-happy  Acadia,  to  find  men  of  an- 
other tongue  and  race  in  possession  of  their  homes 
and  flocks  and  fields,  and  they  themselves  compelled 
to  seek  shelter  elsewhere  and  begin  life  anew.  The 
majority,  however,  were  permanently  absorbed  by 
the  English  provinces.^ 

•Richard,  Acadia,  II.,  341,  342,  discusses  their  destination. 


CHAPTER   XII 

GUARDING  THE  WESTERN  FRONTIER 
(1755-1756) 

THE  news  of  Braddock's  defeat  spread  through- 
out the  west  like  a  forest  fire.  Dunbar's  dis- 
graceful withdrawal  of  the  reserves  was  followed  by 
his  complete  abandonment  of  the  frontier;  despite 
the  frantic  appeals  of  the  Virginians,  he  left  them 
in  the  lurch  and  marched  to  Philadelphia.  Din- 
widdie  wrote  to  Captain  Orme  of  the  regulars: 
"Your  great  colonel  has  gone  to  a  peaceful  colony, 
and  left  our  frontiers  open.  .  .  ,  The  whole  conduct 
of  Colonel  Dunbar  appears  to  me  monstrous.  .  .  . 
To  march  off  all  the  regulars,  and  leave  the  fort 
[Cumberland]  and  frontiers  to  be  defended  by  four 
hundred  sick  and  wounded,  and  the  poor  remains 
of  our  provincial  forces,  appears  to  me  absurd."^ 
Unwonted  activity  at  once  ensued  on  the  part  of 
the  French.  Dtimas,  succeeding  Contrecoeur  at 
Fort  Duquesne,  despatched  runners  among  the 
Shawnee,  Delawares,  and  Mingo,  former  friends  of 
the  English,  bearing  the  message  that  the  latter 
v/ere  soon  to  be  driven  into  the  sea,  and  inducing 

^  Dinwiddie  Papers,  IV.,  148. 
189 


I90  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1755 

them  to  take  up  the  hatchet  against  the  decadent 
red-coats;  while  it  was  not  difficult  once  more  to 
egg  on  the  old  allies  of  the  French,  the  painted 
tribes  of  the  Great  Lakes  and  Canada,  whose  repre- 
sentatives had  revelled  in  the  loot  of  Braddock's 
field.* 

Braddock's  road,  laboriously  cleaved  through  the 
wilderness  to  reach  the  French  and  the  Indians,  now 
proved  equally  convenient  to  the  latter  as  a  path- 
way to  the  English  border.  Dumas  had  often  six 
or  seven  savage  war-parties  out  at  a  time,  "  always 
accompanied  by  Frenchmen";  and  while  provincial 
troops  were  being  massed  upon  the  Niagara  and  Lake 
George  frontiers,  and  in  far-off  Acadia,  thesimimer 
and  autumn  of  1755  brought  rare  misery  to  the 
neglected  frontiersmen  of  the  middle  and  southern 
colonies.  In  July  the  commandant  at  Fort  Du- 
quesne  could  exultantly  write  to  Versailles:  "I 
have  succeeded  in  ruining  the  three  adjacent  prov- 
inces, Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  and  Virginia,  driv- 
ing off  the  inhabitants,  and  totally  destroying  the 
settlements  over  a  tract  of  country  thirty  leagues 
wide,  reckoning  from  the  line  of  Fort  Cumberland. 
.  .  .  The  Indian  villages  are  full  of  prisoners  of  every 
age  and  sex.  The  enemy  has  lost  far  more  since 
the  battle  than  on  the  day  of  his  defeat."  ^ 

Undoubtedly,  Dumas  did  his  best  to  repress  the 

•  Wis.  Hist.  Collections,  III.,  214,  215,  VII.,  132. 
'  Dumas  to  the  minister,   July   24,    1755,   original   letter  in 
British  Record  Office. 


1755]       ON    THE    WESTERN    FRONTIER  191 

savagery  of  his  naked  allies  by  continually  counsel- 
ling them  to  refrain  from  assaulting  women  and  tort- 
uring prisoners.  Documents  of  the  period  prove  that 
he  was  far  from  being  the  blood-thirsty  ogre  which 
American  border  historians  have  generally  painted 
him.  But  his  efforts  at  humanity  were  in  vain; 
the  phials  of  wrath  had  been  opened,  and  pillage, 
arson,  and  violence  of  every  sort,  culminating  with 
the  unspeakable  horrors  of  the  stake,  were  now  the 
almost  daily  experiences  of  the  British  frontier. 

One  of  the  most  flagrant  acts  of  the  French 
partisan  leaders  was  to  disguise  themselves  as  war- 
riors, and,  thus  accoutred,  often  to  outdo  their  com- 
panions in  acts  of  savagery.  This  practice  was, 
to  their  credit,  deprecated  by  the  authorities  at 
Versailles,  who  once  wrote  to  Duquesne  concerning 
it:  "It  appears  merely  proper  to  enjoin  on  him 
expressly  to  prevent  the  French  painting  or  dress- 
ing themselves  like  Indians,  in  order  to  assault  the 
English.  'Tis  a  flagrant  treachery  which  must  not 
be  permitted  even  in  time  of  war."*  Like  the 
British  authorities  with  their  own  colonists,  French 
ministers,  however,  had  but  slight  hold  upon  their 
kinsmen  fighting  in  the  unseen  wilderness  of  America, 
and  the  practice  was  never  seriously  checked. 

Amid  all  this  frightful  din,  one  man  alone  stands 
out  as  the  guardian  of  the  west.  Washington,  at 
first    with    a    thousand    Virginia    militiamen,    but 

*  "Minute  of  instructions  to  be  given  to  M.  Duquesne,"  April, 
1752,  in  A^.  Y.  Docs.  Rel.  to  Col.  Hist.,  X.,  205 


192  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1755 

later  with  fifteen  hundred,  did  what  he  could  to 
protect  three  hundred  and  fifty  miles  of  open  border. 
His  command  contained  many  expert  riflemen,  who 
understood  the  art  of  forest  warfare.  But  they 
were  a  turbulent  and  undisciplined  soldiery,  electing 
their  own  officers,  fixing  their  own  terms  of  enlist- 
ment, and  proudly  disdaining  all  manifestations  of 
authority  that  did  not  appeal  to  their  individual 
judgments.^  There  was,  of  course,  no  attempt 
among  them  to  uniform,  the  officers  in  no  wise  being 
distinguished  from  their  men,  save  Washington  him- 
self, who  appears  seldom  to  have  forgotten  the 
essential  insignia  of  rank,  although  he  declared  that 
the  ideal  costume  for  both  men  and  officers  was 
Indian  dress. ^  Attired  in  fringed  buckskin  hunting- 
shirts,  leggings  and  moccasins  of  the  same,  and 
either  broad-brimmed  felt  hats  or  coon-skin  caps, 
and  carrying  long,  home-made  flint-lock  rifles,  with 
powder-horn,  tomahawk,  and  scalping-knife  depen- 
dent from  the  belt,  they  probably  presented  much 
the  appearance  of  the  cowboy  scouts  of  our  later 
Indian  wars,  save  in  the  crudity  of  their  weapons. 

Had  the  colonies  been  left  alone  to  defend  them- 
selves, without  hope  of  royal  aid  or  direction,  no 
doubt  they  would  have  felt  forced  to  unite,  and 
might  in  time  have  brought  together  a  creditable 

'Concerning  methods  of  frontier  militia,  see  Thwaites  and 
Kellogg,  Documentary  History  of  Dunmore' s  War. 

'  Washington  to  Bouquet.  July  3,  1758,  in  Washington,  Writ- 
ings (Ford's  ed.),  II.,  39-43- 


1755]       ON    THE    WESTERN    FRONTIER  193 

colonial  army,  such  as  was  developed,  less  than  a 
quarter  of  a  century  later,  during  the  Revolutionary 
war.  But  instead  there  was  a  deal  of  foolishness 
displayed  both  in  London  and  in  the  provinces. 
After  Braddock's  defeat  the  provincials  hastily  con- 
cluded that  the  regulars  were  useless  material.  On 
their  part  the  regulars  felt  the  utmost  contempt 
for  the  ununiformed  and  undisciplined  horde  of 
colonial  militiamen.  For  instance,  Wolfe,  at  Hali- 
fax, dubbed  them  "la  canaille,"  and  spoke  scorn- 
fully of  "the  dirtiest,  most  contemptible  coward- 
ly dogs.  .  .  .  Such  rascals  as  these  are  rather  an 
encumbrance  than  any  real  strength  to  an  army."* 
It  is  small  wonder  that,  although  both  were  in  their 
own  way  efficient,  the  two  branches  of  the  service 
grew  apart ;  consequently,  in  the  presence  of  a  united 
and  determined  foe,  the  provinces  suffered  severely. 

Washington's  task,  which  lasted  throughout  the 
war,  was  a  most  onerous  and  thankless  one.  Din- 
widdie  now  disliked  him ;  the  Virginia  assembly  was 
irritable,  jealous  of  the  military,  and  granted  stores 
and  men  with  tardiness  and  insufficiency.  It  was 
with  great  difficulty  that  even  the  small  quotas  voted 
by  the  assembly  could  be  raised;  the  frontiersmen 
themselves  had  to  be  fairly  driven  into  the  un- 
popular service  by  means  of  the  draft. ^  There  was 
constant    apprehension    of    a    slave   uprising,    and 

'  Wood,  Fight  for  Canada,  40,  41. 

'Washington,  Writings  (Sparks's  ed.),  II.,  135,  137,  138,  141, 
142,  154. 


194  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1755 

Virginians  in  consequence  feared  to  be  long  absent 
from  home.  Desertions  were  so  frequent  as  often 
seriously  to  cripple  the  little  army  of  defence ;  and 
among  the  rangers  in  the  field  it  was  almost  im- 
possible to  maintain  discipline.  One  of  his  officers 
wrote:  "If  we  talk  of  obliging  men  to  serve  their 
country,  we  are  sure  to  hear  a  fellow  mumble  over 
the  words  '  liberty '  and  '  poverty '  a  thousand  times."  ' 
Washington,  however,  although  only  twenty-four 
years  of  age,  was  accounted  perhaps  the  most 
accomplished  Indian  fighter  of  his  time,  as  he 
certainly  was  the  most  prominent,  and  to  him  the 
colony  looked  for  the  defence  of  its  western  frontier. 
He  felt  strongly  this  great  obligation  resting  upon 
his  young  shoulders,  and  fairly  pelted  the  governor, 
the  assembly,  and  other  influential  men  with  letters 
appealing  for  necessary  assistance.  "I  am  little 
acquainted.  Sir,"  he  wrote  on  April  22,  1756,  to 
Dinwiddie,  "  with  pathetic  language  to  attempt  a 
description  of  the  people's  distresses,  though  I  have 
a  generous  soul,  sensible  of  wrongs,  and  swelling 
for  redress.  But  what  can  I  do?  I  see  their 
situation,  know  their  danger,  and  participate  their 
sufferings,  without  having  it  in  my  power  to  give 
them  further  relief,  than  uncertain  promises.  .  .  . 
The  supplicating  tears  of  the  women,  and  moving 
petitions  of  the  men,  melt  me  into  such  deadly 
sorrow,  that  I  solemnly  declare,  if  I  know  my  own 

•  Extracts  in  Washington,  Writings   (Sparks's  ed.),   IL,   145, 
154.  159- 


1755]       ON    THE    WESTERN    FRONTIER  195 

mind,  I  could  offer  myself  a  willing  sacrifice  to  the 
butchering  enemy,  provided  that  would  contribute 
to  the  people's  ease."* 

Although  her  frontier  was  at  first  quite  unpro- 
tected, for  the  reason  that  her  tribes  had  hitherto 
been  friendly,  Pennsylvania  would  for  a  long  time 
grant  no  assistance.  The  governor  and  his  legislat- 
ure were  in  a  deadlock  over  the  question  of  taxing 
proprietary  lands  in  levies  for  military  purposes; 
and  we  have  seen^  that  the  Quakers  and  Germans 
were  opposed  on  principle  to  voting  money  for 
fighting  Indians.  At  last,  after  large  districts  had 
been  laid  waste  by  the  savages,  and  hundreds  of 
Pennsylvania  pioneers  had  been  slaughtered  in 
their  homes,  infuriated  backwoodsmen,  bearing  to 
the  very  door  of  the  assembly  ghastly  portions  of 
the  mutilated  bodies  of  their  neighbors,  threatened 
to  besiege  the  capital  and  compel  official  protection. 
The  affrighted  legislature  now  yielded  its  point; 
but  the  military  measures  it  undertook  were  ridicu- 
lously inadequate.  Indeed,  taking  hope  from  Penn- 
sylvania's weakness  and  indifference,  the  latter 
occasioned  in  part  by  its  large  quota  of  foreign 
settlers,  the  French  were  a  few  months  later  found 
to  be  considering  measures  for  turning  the  province 
into  a  recruiting-ground  for  their  own  side.^ 


'Extracts  in  Washington,  Writings  (Sparks's  ed.),  H.,  143, 
144.  ^  See  chap,  ix.,  above. 

*  Intercepted  letter  of  March,  1756,  MS.  in  Public  Record 
Office,  Colonial  Papers,  LXXXI. 


196  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1755 

Early  in  the  French  and  Indian  raids,  and  con- 
tinuing through  several  ensuing  years  (1755-175 9), 
the  Virginia  and  Carolina  borderers,  under  Washing- 
ton's skilful  supervision,  erected  in  the  principal 
mountain  -  passes  or  at  other  vantage  -  points  on 
either  side  of  the  divide  a  line  of  stockaded  block- 
houses a  hundred  to  a  hundred  and  fifty  miles  be- 
yond the  main  settlements.  These  were  garrisoned 
by  the  westernmost  fringe  of  frontiersmen,  who  in 
the  intervals  of  raids  worked  their  outlying  fields 
as  best  they  might.  Fort  Ligonier,  on  the  Loyal- 
hanna,  a  branch  of  the  Alleghany,  was  the  northern- 
most; Fort  Cumberland,  on  the  upper  Potomac, 
came  next,  with  its  memories  of  Dumas's  rout ;  then 
Fort  Chiswell,  on  the  gentle  slopes  of  the  valley  of 
Virginia;  Fort  Byrd,  on  Long  Island,  in  the  upper 
Holston,  a  favorite  Indian  rendezvous;  and  finally 
Fort  Loudoun,  on  the  Little  Tennessee.  Around 
these  several  log  strongholds,  all  of  them  famous  in 
border  story,  there  spasmodically  raged  through- 
out the  long  contest  a  fierce  and  bloody  warfare, 
to  which,  however,  we  shall  hereafter  find  few  oc- 
casions to  refer.  None  the  less  must  it  be  remem- 
bered that  all  the  while  the  larger  operations  of  the 
war  were  being  waged  in  the  north  and  north- 
east. Washington,  with  his  motley  but  generally 
efficient  corps  of  riflemen,  was  hurling  back  the  war- 
parties  of  French-guided  savages  which  almost  con- 
tinually sought  to  break  his  cordon.  His  task  was 
quite  as  important  as  any,  although  less  heralded, 


1759]       ON    THE    WESTERN    FRONTIER  197 

for  at  the  back-door  of  the  British  provinces  he 
was  striving  to  retain  the  Ohio  Valley,  and  that 
was  really  the  key  to  the  situation.  So  long  as 
France  held  this  noble  waterway,  Canada  and 
Louisiana,  joining  hands  with  their  Hne  of  posts, 
could  shut  out  the  English  from  the  continental 
interior  and  hem  them  to  the  coast;  in  the  hands 
of  the  latter  it  meant  the  dismemberment  of  New 
France.  Washington  understood  the  situation ;  few 
other  Englishmen  did. 

In  England  the  year  aboimded  in  political  tur- 
moil. The  nation  was  still  nominally  at  peace  with 
France,  although  hostilities  were  in  full  progress 
between  their  subjects  in  North  America.  The 
weakness  of  Newcastle  and  his  confreres  but  ag- 
gravated the  situation.  Fifty  thousand  sailors  were 
recruited,  but  the  fleet  was  wretchedly  handled, 
the  army  was  confused  by  the  premier's  jealousy  of 
Cumberland,  and  the  king  was  on  the  continent  dur- 
ing the  summer,  looking  after  his  miserable  affairs 
in  Hanover.  England  was  alarmed  and  distracted 
over  the  situation,  fearing  a  threatened  French  in- 
vasion, while  the  ministry  writhed  under  the  lash 
of  Pitt,  who  tmsparingly  denoimced  the  govern- 
ment and  their  works,  and  during  the  winter  forced 
on  them  plans  for  a  more  efficient  war  footing. 
These  latter,  however,  were  not  wholly  to  his  liking ; 
especially  an  act  which  had  passed  Parliament  by  a 
vote  of  three  to  one,  authorizing  the  king  to  im- 
port Hanoverians  and  Prussians  for  the  defence  of 


198  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1756 

the  island,  and  to  grant  commissions  to  foreign 
Protestants  in  America;  Pitt  stoutly  held  that  only 
British  soldiers  should  be  employed  to  fight  British 
battles.^ 

Hostilities  were  finally  proclaimed  between  France 
and  England  May  18,  1756,  a  full  year  after  they 
had  openly  commenced.  In  Europe  the  contest  is 
called  the  Seven  Years'  War,  and  grew  out  of  the 
alliance  of  France,  Russia,  Austria,  and  Poland  to 
check  the  aggressive  designs  of  Frederick  the  Great 
of  Prussia.  England  was  allied  with  Frederick,  and 
felt  especial  enmity  against  France  because  the 
latter  was  trying  to  oust  her  from  India  and  was 
not  a  comfortable  neighbor  in  America.  The  final 
struggle  between  France  and  England  for  American 
supremacy  is  known  in  our  history  as  the  French 
and  Indian  War. 

It  was  at  last  intended  by  the  government  at 
Whitehall,  spurred  on  by  the  minority,  under  Pitt, 
to  organize  vigorous  campaigns,  both  in  the  Old 
World  and  the  New.  The  Mediterranean  fleet 
was  supposedly  strengthened,  under  Admiral  Byng; 
and  a  defence  iund  of  £115,000  and  several  regi- 
ments of  regulars  were  ordered  sent  out  to  Lord 
Loudoun,  the  new  British  military  commander  in 
America.  The  French,  less  dilatory,  struck  first, 
by  attacking  Port  Mahon  in  Minorca,  which  was 
insufficiently  garrisoned  and  supplied.  The  defence 
was  stubborn ;  but  the  French  were  in  better  order, 

'  Green,  William  Pitt,  36,  37. 


1756]       ON    THE    WESTERN    FRONTIER  199 

and  Byng's  belated  ships  were  so  ill-manned  that  he 
recognized  the  difficulty  of  assisting,  and  disgrace- 
fully retreated,  for  which  cowardice  he  later  suf- 
fered death.  Port  Mahon  fell  (June  28)  after  a  siege 
of  seventy  days,  and  Englishmen  were  enraged  at 
the  incompetence  of  the  government.  Popular  dis- 
content became  fury  when,  later  in  the  season, 
French  diplomacy  acquired  Corsica  from  the  repub- 
lic of  Genoa,  and  for  the  time  being  English  inter- 
ests ceased  to  control  the  Mediterranean,  save  that 
Gibraltar  guarded  its  entrance.^ 

As  for  Loudoun's  reinforcements,  they  did  not 
arrive  until  June  and  July,  and  the  season  was  lost 
through  inaction,  induced  by  camp  diseases,  the  in- 
efficiency of  the  general,  the  inexperience  of  pro- 
vincial commanders,  and  the  usual  dilatory  attitude 
of  the  colonial  legislatures,  several  of  which  utterly 
refused  aid;  while  even  those  at  last  voting  men 
and  supplies  imposed  conditions  inconsistent  with 
good  military  management. 

The  French  autocracy  had,  of  course,  no  troubles 
of  this  character  to  contend  with,  but  were  not 
without  serious  difficulties  of  their  own.  The  Mar- 
quis de  Montcalm,  an  able,  energetic,  if  somewhat 
impetuous  officer,  deputed  by  the  king  to  conduct 
his  military  operations  in  America,  arrived  at  Que- 
bec the  middle  of  May.  Governor  Vaudreuil,  a 
native  of  Canada,  was  jealous  of  this  intrusion  from 
France.     He  was  still  nominally  in  supreme  control, 

'Clowes,  Royal  Navy,  III.,   146-160. 


200  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1756 

and  had  desired  to  take  command  in  the  field ;  this 
was,  however,  denied  him  by  the  ministry,  and 
thenceforth  there  was  a  sharp  antagonism  between 
the  two,  accentuated  by  the  fact  that  they  were  of 
quite  opposite  temperaments. 

Montcalm  had  had  a  brilliant  European  career; 
he  was  scholarly  in  tastes,  entertained  noble  senti- 
ments, and  appears  to  have  been  a  Christian  gentle- 
man. Vaudreuil  was  said  by  the  general  to  be 
"slow  and  irresolute,"*  but  he  generally  meant 
well.  His  was  a  petty  mind,  prone  to  take  offence 
at  trifles,  egotistical,  wedded  to  bureaucratic  meth- 
ods, and  morbidly  distrustful  of  the  officers  from 
France,  whom  he  constantly  disparaged  in  his  volu- 
minous letters  to  the  ministry  at  Versailles.  More- 
over, he  was  not  above  the  practice  of  petty  pecu- 
lation, although  more  honest  than  many  of  his 
colleagues.  To  add  to  the  difficulty,  the  Intendant 
Bigot,  whose  real  power,  as  keeper  of  the  public 
funds,  surpassed  that  of  either  Vaudreuil  or  the 
general,  was  a  vicious  rascal,  who  plundered  right 
and  left,  and  saw  no  good  in  those  whom  he  could 
not  use  as  tools.  Poor  in  purse  as  he  was  proud  in 
spirit,  inclined  to  lavish  entertainment  in  the  face 
of  growing  debt,  and  at  times  indiscreetly  irascible, 
Montcalm  had  a  sorry  time  of  it  under  the  thumb 
of  these  resident  officials,  who  united  only  against 

*  Montcalm  to  the  minister,  June  19,  1756,  cited  in  Parkman, 
Montcalm  and  Wolfe,  I.,  377;  incorrectly  synopsized  in  N.  Y. 
Docs.  Rel.  to  Col.  Hist.,  X.,  421. 


i7S6]       ON    THE    WESTERN    FRONTIER  201 

him.  His  sole  confidants  in  America  appear  to  have 
been  his  Ueutenants,  Levis  and  Bouriamaque,  but 
he  found  a  vent  for  his  opinions  in  numerous  let- 
ters to  his  wife,  his  mother,  and  other  relatives 
and  friends  in  France.  These  missives  were  de- 
lightfully full  and  unreserved,  generally  playful 
in  tone,  yet  exhibiting  pent-up  emotion.  They 
afford  rich  material  for  the  inside  history  of  New 
France  during  the  great  struggle.  "What  a  coun- 
try," he  wrote  to  one  of  his  correspondents,  "where 
knaves  grow  rich  and  honest  men  are  ruined."  * 
And  on  another  occasion  the  impatient  soldier  ex- 
claimed: "Forgive  the  confusion  of  this  letter;  I 
have  not  slept  all  night  with  thinking  of  the  rob- 
beries and  mismanagement  and  folly.  Pauvre  Roi, 
paitvre  France,  cara  patria."  ^  This  miserable  and 
imtimely  dissension  in  the  little  government  at 
Quebec  materially  weakened  New  France,  and  was 
almost  as  serious  in  its  way  as  the  divided  councils 
of  the  English  colonies. 

Montcalm's  army  consisted  of  nearly  four  thou- 
sand regulars  from  France  (troupes  de  terre),  nearly 
twenty-five  hundred  colonial  regulars  (troupes  de  la 
marine),  and  some  five  thousand  colonial  militia,  to 
which  branch  of  the  service  all  able-bodied  men 
in  the  colony,  say  fifteen  thousand  in  all,  were  lia- 
ble to  be  called.     In  addition  there  were  irregular 

*  Parkman,  Montcalm  and  Wolfe,  II.,  172. 
"^  Ibid.,    169;    for   account   of   Montcalm's   correspondence  in 
general,  ibid.,  App.,  426-428. 

VOL.     VII. IS 


202  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1756 

bands  of  allied  Indians  from  the  valleys  of  the  St. 
Lawrence  and  the  Mississippi,  the  warriors  fluctuat- 
ing in  number  from  time  to  time — from  the  six 
hundred  and  fifty  at  Braddock's  defeat  to  the 
eighteen  hundred  or  more  before  Fort  William 
Henry,  while  probably  not  over  a  thousand  served 
at  the  siege  of  Quebec.  At  the  height  of  the  war, 
Montcalm  had  a  nominal  command  over  possibly 
about  twenty  thousand  men  in  field,  garrison,  and 
reserve;  while  as  many  more  were  supposed  to  be 
engaged  in  irregularly  defending  the  attenuated 
cordon  of  log  outposts  and  missionary  hamlets 
stretching  between  Canada  and  Louisiana.  The 
actual  fighting  strength  of  New  France  was,  how- 
ever, far  less  than  indicated  on  the  rolls. 

We  have  seen  that  the  British  campaign  of  this 
year  was  marked  by  weakness,  induced  by  gov- 
ernmental delays,  provincial  dissensions,  and  the 
military  incompetence  of  Lord  Loudoun.  The 
movements  of  Montcalm  and  Vaudreuil.  however 
— for  the  time  being  they  acted  in  common — 
were  characterized  by  considerable  energy  and 
tactical  skill.  While  the  British  were  slowly  pre- 
paring to  reinforce  Fort  Ontario,  at  Oswego,  Mont- 
cakn,  with  a  force  of  three  thousand,  quickly  swoop- 
ed down  upon  this  important  key  to  the  Indian 
trade  of  the  Great  Lakes,  and  forced  it  to  surrender 
(August  14)  after  three  days'  siege,  with  its  three 
thousand  men  and  considerable  supplies.  The  re- 
lief  column,  pursuing   a   leisurely  journey  thither, 


1756]       ON    THE    WESTERN    FRONTIER  203 

was  thereupon  forced  hurriedly  to  retreat;  while 
Montcalm  burned  his  prize  and  retired  first  to 
Montreal,  but  later  to  Ticonderoga,  where,  with  a 
garrison  of  five  thousand,  behind  strengthened 
defences,  he  was  for  the  time  being  secure  against 
dislodgement/ 

Thus  the  season  of  1756  ended  for  the  British  with 
Hanover  in  imminent  danger  of  attack,  Minorca 
fallen,  the  navy  in  sad  repute,  Loudoun  discredited, 
and  the  west  abandoned;  and  finally,  while  the 
people  were  mourning  because  of  the  humiliations 
to  which  their  shambling  government  had  brought 
them,  there  was  speeding  on  the  way  to  England, 
as  fast  as  sail  could  bring  it,  fully  as  distressful  news 
from  far-off  India — the  loss  of  Calcutta  at  the  hands 
of  young  Sura j ah  Dowlah  (June  20)  and  the  fright- 
ful tragedy  of  the  Black  Hole  Prison. 

*  Parkman,  Montcalm  and  Wolfe,  II.,  410-416. 


CHAPTER   XIII 

A  YEAR    OF   HUMILIATION 
(1757) 

UNABLE  to  withstand  the  general  outcry  against 
his  mismanagement,  the  Duke  of  Newcastle  re- 
tired in  November,  1756,  to  be  succeeded  by  the 
Duke  of  Devonshire.  But  William  Pitt,  now  forty- 
eight  years  of  age,  was  the  strong  man  of  the  new 
cabinet,  and  with  his  accession  as  one  of  the  two 
secretaries  of  state  an  entirely  different  spirit  pre- 
vailed in  the  official  as  well  as  the  popular  attitude 
towards  the  war.  Parliament  met  early  in  De- 
cember. The  continental  troops  imported  to  assist 
in  British  defence  were  promptly  sent  home,  the 
militia  were  strengthened  to  over  thirty-two  thou- 
sand men,  the  artillery  and  the  marines  were 
heavily  increased,  and  the  island  was  put  in  condi- 
tion to  defend  itself.  Squadrons  were  despatched 
to  India  and  the  West  Indies ;  nineteen  thousand 
troops,  including  two  thousand  Highlanders  under 
their  clan  leaders — former  foes,  now  for  the  first  time 
taken  into  the  British  service  —  were  ordered  to 
America;  and  the  somewhat  fantastic  regiments  of 

204 


Longitude  West  from  G: 


I7S7J  YEAR    OF    DEFEAT  205 

Shirley  and  Pepperrell  were  disbanded,  in  order  to 
make  room  for  the  kilted  braves/ 

Pitt,  more  clearly  than  any  other  statesman  of 
his  time,  recognized  the  path  to  British  greatness. 
France  had  made  some  gains  in  the  Mediterranean, 
yet  her  sea-power  was  relatively  weak.  Her  navy 
in  1756  consisted  of  but  sixty- three  ships  of  the  line, 
of  which  only  forty-five  need  be  reckoned  with; 
while  her  possible  naval  ally,  Spain,  could  muster 
only  forty-six,  and  few  of  those  were  seriously  to  be 
considered  as  fighting  machines.  The  British  fleet 
aggregated  a  hundred  and  thirty  men-of-war,  nearly 
all  in  fair  condition.^  France  was  also  so  closely 
and  needlessly  entangled  in  continental  politics,  as 
an  ally  of  Austria  against  Frederick  of  Prussia,  that 
she  could  not  concentrate  her  strength  against  Eng- 
land. Pitt  perceived  that  the  latter 's  advantage 
lay  in  looking  chiefly  to  the  sea  and  her  colonies, 
hence  he  made  a  side  issue  of  the  national  alliance 
with  Frederick,  who  was  assisted  only  sufficiently 
to  enable  him  to  engage  the  attention  of  France, 
whose  land  forces  alone  were  powerful.  Under 
Pitt's  inspiring  leadership  the  nation  glowed  with 
military  enthusiasm.  On  every  hand,  men  were 
eager  to  join  the  army  and  the  fleet,  and  the  war 
office  became  the  centre  of  unwonted  action. 

Meanwhile,  in  the  colonies,  the  winter  was  dis- 
tinguished   by    a    characteristic    dispute    over   the 

*  Fortescue,  British  Army,  300. 

^  Mahan,  Influence  of  Sea  Power,  291. 


2o6  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1757 

quartering  of  the  British  regulars.  The  provincial 
troops,  enlisted  only  for  particular  campaigns,  were 
disbanded  and  returned  to  their  homes  at  the  open- 
ing of  winter,  necessitating  fresh  levies  the  ensu- 
ing spring;  but  the  regulars  could  not  be  disposed 
of  in  this  fashion.  Lord  Loudoun  billeted  his 
men  upon  the  inhabitants — the  bulk  of  them  in 
Boston,  New  York,  and  Philadelphia.  With  that 
watchful  jealousy  of  the  exercise  of  arbitrary  pow- 
er, which  has  ever  been  a  leading  characteristic  of 
the  English  people,  perhaps  not  unmingled  in  this 
case  with  a  penuriousness  common  to  the  colonists, 
Loudoun's  billets  at  once  aroused  opposition.  It 
was  argued  by  the  general  that  billeting  was  a  usage 
prevalent  in  England  in  time  of  war,  and  that  the 
troops  were  here  for  nothing  else  than  to  defend 
the  provinces;  moreover,  an  act  of  Parliament 
sanctioned  his  demand.  New  York  and  Philadel- 
phia yielded  under  pressure  of  threats,  but  Bos- 
ton was  settled  by  the  sort  of  "  Britons  who  never 
will  be  slaves,"  and  obstinately  stood  out  on  prin- 
ciple. The  Massachusetts  assembly  finally  com- 
promised the  matter  by  passing  a  special  act  au- 
thorizing billeting,  thus  by  implication  denying 
that  an  act  of  Parliament  could  be  binding  upon 
them.* 

Devonshire's  ministry  was  high  in  public  favor, 
but  it  could  not  command  a  parliamentary  ma- 
jority, and  at  court  it  had  no  friends.     The  king, 

'  Mass.  Bay,  Acts  and  Resolves,  IV.,  chap,  xvi.,  47,  48. 


1757]  YEAR    OF    DEFEAT  207 

who  disliked  Pitt,  complained  that  "the  secretary 
made  him  long  speeches,  which  possibly  might  be 
very  fine,  but  were  greatly  beyond  his  compre- 
hension ;  and  that  his  letters  were  affected,  formal, 
and  pedantic."^  Suddenly,  early  in  April  (1757), 
his  majesty  peremptorily  dismissed  the  objectionable 
minister,  in  order  to  please  the  Duke  of  Cumberland ; 
the  king  wished  the  duke  to  command  a  colimin  to 
be  sent  to  the  defence  of  Hanover  against  the  French, 
and  the  latter  petulantly  declared  he  would  not  take 
orders  from  Pitt.  But  the  popular  indignation  was 
so  great  throughout  the  island,  and  it  was  so  plainly 
seen  that  none  but  the  great  commoner  could  con- 
duct the  government  in  the  present  crisis,  that  his 
majesty  with  ill  grace  recalled  him  late  in  June 
as  secretary  of  state  for  war  and  foreign  affairs — 
the  virtual  head  of  a  reorganized  ministry,  based  on 
a  convenient  although  undignified  bargain  between 
Pitt  and  Newcastle,  the  latter  being  still  in  control  of 
the  parliamentary  majority.  Newcastle  thereby  re- 
gained his  premiership  and  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical 
patronage  which  his  vulgar  ambition  craved,  while 
to  Pitt  were  given  the  reins  of  real  power,  an  ar- 
rangement which  he  described  as  "borrowing  the 
Duke  of  Newcastle's  majority  to  carry  on  the  busi- 
ness of  the  country."  The  new  master,  who  never 
lacked  self-confidence,  is  credited  with  declaring,  "  I 
am  sure  that  I  can  save  this  country,  and  that  no 
one  else  can,"^  a  boast  borne  out  by  the  facts. 
*  Waldegrave,  Memoirs,  95.  ^  Walpole,  Memoirs,  III.,  84. 


2o8  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1757 

But  Pitt's  dismissal  had  for  eleven  weeks  prac- 
tically disorganized  the  governmental  machinery 
and  consequently  delayed  all  military  operations, 
so  that  much  of  the  energy  characterizing  the  win- 
ter and  early  spring  was  dissipated  for  the  present 
season.  In  America,  Loudoun  had  early  received 
(January,  1757)  one  new  regiment  from  a  former 
Newcastle  assignment,  but  there  passed  many  long 
and  weary  months  before  instructions  and  addi- 
tional reinforcements  reached  him.  Seven  battal- 
ions supposed  to  have  been  shipped  to  America  in 
March  had  at  first  loitered  and  then  been  harassed 
by  ocean  storms,  so  that  it  was  the  middle  of  July 
before  they  straggled  into  Halifax  harbor,  the  pro- 
posed rendezvous. 

It  had  been  Pitt's  intention,  acting  on  Loudoun's 
advice,  to  attack  Louisburg,  and  thus  again  obtain 
control  of  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence.  For  this  enter- 
prise, the  time  for  which  was  not  yet  ripe,  the 
general  had  unwisely  withdrawn  the  majority  of  his 
troops  from  the  northern  border,  and  tarried  long  at 
New  York  ready  for  embarkation,  embarrassed  as  to 
his  proper  course.  News  reached  him  of  a  great 
French  fleet  patrolling  the  Nova  Scotian  coast ;  but 
finally  he  ventured  late  in  June  to  start  for  Hali- 
fax, reaching  there  with  his  twelve  thousand  men 
after  a  ten  days'  voyage,  without  sighting  a  hostile 
sail.  The  long-promised  co-operating  squadron  from 
England,  under  Admiral  Holbourne,  arrived  a  fort- 
night later. 


1757]  YEAR    OF    DEFEAT  209 

It  was  soon  learned,  however  (August  4),  that  the 
French  had  reinforced  the  Louisburg  garrison,  so 
that  now  there  were  seven  thousand  well-trained 
troops  behind  its  formidable  bastions,  while  twenty- 
two  ships  of  the  line  crowded  the  harbor.  There- 
upon Loudoun,  quite  lacking  in  the  spirit  which 
animated  the  dare-devil  New  England  rustics  who 
had  carried  Louisburg  by  their  clumsy  assault  a 
dozen  years  before,  quickly  returned  with  his  forces 
to  New  York.  The  admiral,  with  truer  British 
grit,  remained  behind  to  challenge  his  naval  enemy, 
who,  however,  seemed  loath  to  accept.  But  there 
now  arose  a  fierce  September  gale,  that  wrought  sad 
havoc  with  his  ships,  and  Louisburg  was  spared  for 
another  year.^ 

Loudoun's  weakening  of  the  British  frontier  de- 
fence afforded  a  fine  opportunity  for  Montcalm,  of 
which  he  was  not  slow  to  take  advantage.  With 
Oswego  destroyed,  western  communications  were 
opened,  so  that  his  attention  could  be  concen- 
trated on  the  threatened  British  advance  from  the 
south  by  way  of  the  now  familiar  route  of  lakes 
George  and  Champlain.  In  Fort  Edward,  at  the 
Hudson  River  end  of  the  portage,  Colonel  Daniel 
Webb  was  stationed  with  a  garrison  of  thirty-six 
himdred.  The  Lake  George  terminus  of  the  road, 
fourteen  miles  to  the  eastward,  was  guarded  by  the 
outpost   of   Fort   William   Henry,   commanded   by 

*  See  Bourinot,  Cape  Breton,  154,  for  detailed  list  of  authori- 
ties on  this  expedition. 


2IO  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1757 

Lieutenant-Colonel  Monro,  with  a  force  of  twenty- 
two  hundred.  The  French  held  Crown  Point  and 
Ticonderoga;  while  protecting  their  base  towards 
Montreal  were  two  other  strongholds,  forts  St. 
John  and  Chambly,  on  the  Richelieu. 

Late  in  July,  Montcalm  assembled  at  Ticonderoga 
a  formidable  war-party  of  three  thousand  regulars, 
a  like  number  of  militia,  and  nearly  two  thou- 
sand Indians  —  the  latter  gathered  from  a  wide 
stretch  of  territory,  extending  even  to  and  beyond 
the  Mississippi.  The  untamed  western  tribes  sur- 
prised the  officers  from  France  with  their  "brute 
paganism,"  their  music  "strongly  resembling  the 
cries  and  bowlings  of  wolves,"  and  their  "decora- 
tion with  every  ornament  most  fitted  to  disfigure, 
in  European  eyes,  their  physiognomies.  Vermilion, 
white,  green,  yellow,  and  black  made  from  soot  or 
scrapings  of  the  pots ;  on  a  single  face  are  seen  united 
all  these  different  colors."* 

Accompanied  by  this  motley  throng,  the  general 
suddenly  appeared  before  Monro's  camp,  and  by 
holding  the  portage  path  prevented  Webb  from 
coming  to  the  rescue.  After  suffering  three  days' 
heavy  bombardment,  with  no  hope  of  relief,  Monro 
surrendered  on  August  9,  his  casualties  having 
aggregated  three  hundred,  while  small-pox  had 
broken  out  among  his  men. 

Montcalm  had  pledged  his  Indian  allies  to  desist 

'  Father  P.  J.  A.  Ribaud,  in  Thwaites,  Jesuit  Relations, 
LXX.,  95. 


I7S7]  YEAR    OF    DEFEAT  211 

from  worrying  the  prisoners,  and  fearing  to  excite 
them  had  forbidden  Hquor  to  be  doled  out  to  the 
tribesmen  until  the  British  were  at  a  safe  distance. 
The  latter  had  been  "  granted  the  right  of  going  out 
of  the  fort  with  all  the  honors  of  war,"  but  on 
parole  "of  not  serving  against  His  Most  Christian 
Majesty  for  eighteen  months,"  and  of  "restoring 
liberty  to  all  Canadians  taken  in  this  war."^ 

After  another  night  in  the  intrenchments,  during 
which  they  were  robbed  and  frequently  assaulted 
by  pillaging  savages  who  crept  through  the  ruined 
casemates,  the  English  troops  prepared  to  march  out, 
early  in  the  morning  of  August  10.  Yielding  to  the 
importunities  of  the  "ferocious  beasts"  who  now 
crowded  about  them  with  threatening  gestures, 
"The  English  dispossessed  and  despoiled  themselves, 
and  reduced  to  nothing,  that  they  might  buy  at  least 
life  by  this  general  renunciation."^  Unfortunate- 
ly, among  the  peace-offerings  thus  tendered  was  a 
quantity  of  spirits,  which  on  being  passed  arotmd 
among  them  roused  the  savages  to  fury.  The  little 
guard  of  four  hundred  French  troops,  detailed  to 
"protect  the  retreat  of  the  enemy,"  soon  arrived; 
but  as  the  English,  among  whom  were  several 
women,  defiled  into  the  open,  their  protectors  were 
rudely  thrust  aside,  and,  indeed,  some  of  them  killed 
outright,  and  an  orgy  of  human  butchery  com- 
menced. 

•  These  quotations  are  from  Ribaud's  account,  in  Thwaites, 
Jesuit  Relations,  LXX.,  95.  ^Ibid.,  179 


212  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1757 

Montcalm  and  his  fellow-officers,  encamped  at  a 
considerable  distance,  rushed  into  the  melee  at  the 
risk  of  their  lives,  and  by  dint  of  "  prayers,  menaces, 
promises  and  at  last  force"  succeeded  in  restoring 
order.  But  in  the  course  of  the  brief  turmoil  about 
fifty  of  the  English  had  been  killed  and  scalped,  and 
some  four  or  five  hundred  kidnapped  by  the  Indians.* 
The  remainder  found  refuge  in  the  tents  of  the 
French,  and  a  few  days  later,  "to  the  number  of 
nearly  five  hundred,"  were,  this  time  under  adequate 
guard,  safely  forwarded  to  Fort  Edward.  The 
captives  were  eventually  ransomed  by  Montcalm, 
"at  great  expense,"  and  carried  to  Quebec,  where 
they  took  ship  for  Boston. 

There  is  no  ground  whatever  for  suspecting  the 
French  of  complicity  in  this  shocking  affair;  indeed, 
Father  Riband's  report,  which  bears  the  stamp  of 
accuracy,  seems  sufficient  evidence  to  the  contrary. 
"The  Savages,"  he  declares,  "are  alone  responsible 
for  the  infringement  of  the  law  of  nations ;  and  it 
is  only  to  their  insatiable  ferocity  and  their  in- 
dependence that  the  cause  of  it  can  be  ascribed." 
Nevertheless,  none  better  than  the  French  knew 
the  characteristics  of  these  demi-demons;  with  a 
force  of  six  thousand  regulars  and  militia  at  hand, 
a  more  efficient  safeguard  should  have  been  given 
to  the  unfortunate  prisoners. 

'  On  casualty  statistics  see  Parkman,  Montcalm  and  Wolfe,  I., 
514.  We  follow  Ribaud,  in  Thwaites,  Jesuit  Relations,  LXX., 
183-199. 


1758]  YEAR    OF    DEFEAT  213 

It  was  part  of  Montcalm's  plan  to  cross  over  to 
Fort  Edward  and  either  capture  or  drive  out  Webb. 
But  he  had  suffered  a  considerable  loss  in  dead  and 
wounded,  his  militiamen  were  leaving  for  home  to 
look  after  their  harvests,  and  the  Indians  were  slink- 
ing away  with  loot  and  captives.  He  was  soon  re- 
duced to  his  three  thousand  regulars,  whom  he  did 
not  care  to  pit  against  the  forty-five  hundred  now 
at  Fort  Edward ;  moreover,  transport  facilities  were 
meagre  and  provisions  were  running  low.  He  there- 
fore burned  the  remains  of  Fort  William  Henry, 
throwing  the  heaps  of  French,  British,  and  savage 
slain  into  the  consuming  flames,  and  retired  to 
Ticonderoga. 

During  the  winter  of  1757-1758,  Vaudreuilbusied 
himself  with  letters  to  Versailles,  accusing  the  gen- 
eral of  incompetency  for  neglecting  to  finish  his 
task  by  attacking  Webb.  On  his  part,  Montcalm, 
impatient  of  the  governor's  bickerings,  was  request- 
ing the  ministry  to  give  him  supreme  command  in 
New  France,  an  application  supported  by  the  best 
of  his  colonial  colleagues.  Doreil,  in  charge  of  the 
colonial  commissariat,  expressed  the  common  senti- 
ment of  unprejudiced  men  in  Canada  when  he  wrote 
to  the  minister  of  war.  Marshal  Belle-Isle:  "No 
matter  whether  the  war  is  to  continue  or  not,  if  His 
Majesty  wants  Canadian  affairs  put  on  a  solid  foot- 
ing, let  him  confide  the  general  government  to  the 
Marquis  de  Montcalm."  ^ 

*  Wood,  Fight  for  Canada,  74, 


214  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1757 

While  these  events  were  transpiring  in  America, 
British  interests  in  the  Old  World  were  also  suffer- 
ing materially.  Among  the  earliest  incidents  con- 
fronting Pitt  on  his  resumption  of  power,  was  news 
of  the  Duke  of  Cumberland's  defeat  at  the  hands  of 
the  French  in  the  battle  of  Hastenbeck  (July  26), 
and  that  cpmmander's  pusillanimous  agreement  to 
evacuate  the  country,  which  Pitt  promptly  dis- 
avowed. The  minister,  eager  to  do  something  to 
save  the  year  from  utter  disaster,  now  allowed  him- 
self to  be  drawn  into  the  enterprise  of  despatching 
ten  battalions  and  a  powerful  fleet  against  the 
French  harbor  fortress  of  Rochefort,  on  the  strength 
of  an  ill-founded  rumor  that  its  defences  were  weak. 
But  on  ncaring  their  destination  the  officers  learn- 
ed that  Rochefort  was  quite  ready  for  them,  where- 
upon (October  i)  they  discreetly  withdrew  to  meet 
an  infuriated  British  public  that  throughout  the 
winter  bombarded  them  with  abusive  pamphlets. 


CHAPTER   XIV 

THE  TURNING  OF  THE  SCALE 
(1758) 

THE  mass  of  the  British'  people  were  in  the  depths 
of  despondency,  but  now  a  master  was  in  con- 
trol who  soon  was  to  lead  them  to  almost  unexam- 
pled victory.  The  elements  of  success  were  pres- 
ent ;  they  simply  needed  organization  and  direction, 
and  this  was  the  great  service  which  in  the  present 
crisis  William  Pitt  rendered  to  his  country. 

Of  the  historical  figures  that  trod  the  stage  of 
British  politics  during  the  eighteenth  century,  he  was 
by  all  odds  the  most  striking.  Of  good  family,  and 
fairly  well  educated,  although  of  narrow  means,  Pitt 
first  entered  the  army  as  a  cavalry  comet,  but  soon 
sought  a  parliamentary  career,  becoming  a  member 
of  the  House  in  his  twenty-seventh  year.  Thence- 
forth he  was  much  in  the  public  eye,  for  during 
nearly  twenty  -  two  years  before  he  became  the 
head  of  the  government  he  was  a  leader  of  the  op- 
position. His  brilliant  and  powerful  oratory,  nota- 
ble for  invective  and  sarcasm,  was  always  at  the 
command  of  progressive  measures,  and  awakened 
wide-spread  popular  applause.     **  In  him  the  people 

215 


2i6  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1558 

first  felt  their  power.  He  was  essentially  their  rep- 
resentative, and  he  gloried  in  avowing  it."'  But 
this  fact,  emphasized  by  his  caustic  jibes  and  often 
violent  attacks  on  incapacity  in  high  places,  ren- 
dered him  obnoxious  to  king  and  court. 

His  "  figure  was  tall  and  imposing,  with  the  eyes 
of  a  hawk,  a  little  head,  a  thin  face,  and  a  long 
aquiline  nose  ";^  his  carriage  was  graceful  and  dig- 
nified, and  he  was  exact  in  his  attire.  If  we  may 
accept  the  judgment  of  his  contemporaries — for  it 
was  previous  to  the  introduction  of  modem  stenog- 
raphy, and  we  have  only  synoptical  reports  of  his 
speeches,  and  reminiscences  of  their  effect  upon  his 
public — he  must  be  ranked  with  the  greatest  orators 
of  all  times.  His  style  was  impassioned;  his  utter- 
ance "was  both  full  and  clear;  his  lowest  whisper 
was  distinctly  heard;  his  middle  tones  were  sweet, 
rich,  and  beautifully  varied;  when  he  elevated  his 
voice  to  its  highest  pitch,  the  house  was  completely 
filled  with  the  volume  of  sound."  ' 

Pitt  was  without  doubt  possessed  of  foibles  and 
weaknesses ;  his  vanity  was  moniimental ;  he  seldom 
took  counsel  of  his  colleagues;  there  was  "a  degree 
of  pedantry  in  his  conversation  " ;  his  manner,  both 
in  private  and  public  life,  was  peremptory,  impetu- 
ous, and  often  theatrical;  his  reading  was  limited, 
and  he  knew  few  subjects  thoroughly;  frequently, 

■  Lecky,  England,  II.,  516. 

*  Barker,  in  Diet.  National  Biog.,  XLV.,  365,  art.  Pitt. 

'  Butler,  Reminiscences,  I.,   139. 


i7S8]  TURNING    POINT  217 

he  was  incx)nsistent  in  his  pohtical  attitude ;  and  he 
was  much  too  fond  of  war,  apparently  recking  little 
of  its  cost  in  treasure,  pain,  and  blood.  But  his* 
private  life  was  exemplary;  no  suspicion  of  corrup- 
tion attached  to  him,  in  an  age  when  official  mal- 
feasance was  almost  universal.  His  own  military 
plans  were  not  always  well  formulated  or  success- 
ful, yet  he  knew  how  to  select  good  commanders, 
and  generally  was  wise  enough  to  leave  details  to 
them.  He  personally  created  the  enginery  of  war, 
and  was  largely  responsible  for  originating  the  cam- 
paign that  thrust  France  from  the  path  of  British 
imperiahsm.  He  was  fertile  in  resources,  was  bold 
and  ardent,  possessed  tremendous  energy  and  in- 
domitable courage,  and  had  the  rare  power  of  in- 
fusing the  nation  with  the  same  leonine  spirit  with 
which  he  himself  was  imbued.  France  must  not 
only  be  ousted  from  North  America,  but  must  be 
so  crippled  both  on  land  and  sea  as  to  render  her 
henceforth  incapable  of  adequate  revenge;  to  this 
end,  with  incomparable  genius,  he  aroused  the  Brit- 
ish people  to  the  highest  pitch  of  patriotic  endeavor. 
As  a  result,  "at  the  end  of  seven  years  the  kingdom 
of  Great  Britain  had  become  the  British  Empire."  ' 
With  Newcastle's  substantial  parliamentary  ma- 
jority quite  at  his  command,  Pitt  spent  the  winter 
of  1757-1758  in  organizing  and  equipping  his  dogs 
of  war.  Realizing  that  in  a  struggle  for  colonial 
supremacy  his  chief  reliance  must  be  the  navy,  he 

^  Mahan,  Influence  of  Sea  Power,  291. 

VOL.    VII,  — 16 


2i8  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1758 

exhausted  every  resource  in  making  it,  under  the 
splendid  management  of  Admiral  Anson,  unques- 
tionably the  greatest  fighting  machine  of  his  day. 
The  sea  power  of  France  had,  in  the  previous  years 
of  contest,  been  relatively  weaker;  and  now  it  fast 
retrograded,  not  because  of  failure  in  marine  archi- 
tecture or  in  equipment — for  her  vessels  were  gen- 
erally built  on  better  lines,  had  stouter  rigging,  and 
were  more  amply  supplied  than  those  of  England* 
— but  largely  from  inferior  seamanship.  The  Brit- 
ish people,  insular  in  situation  and  dependent  on  a 
wide-spread  commerce  for  the  very  necessaries  of 
life,  contained  the  largest  body  of  commercial  sailors 
on  earth,  which  constituted  a  splendid  recruiting-field 
for  the  ever-expanding  navy.  In  the  nature  of 
things,  the  latter's  carefully  selected  personnel  was 
much  superior  to  that  of  its  competitors,  who, 
failing  in  skill  but  not  at  all  in  courage,  had  at 
their  command  a  much  smaller  nursery  of  com- 
petent seamen. 

For  the  men  themselves,  the  British  naval  ser- 
vice was  far  from  a  primrose  path.  The  majority 
of  the  sailors  were  recruited  by  the  rude  methods  of 
impressment,  which  made  their  employment  a  sort 
of  slavery.  Conditions  afloat  were  as  unwholesome 
physically  as  they  often  were  morally.  The  work 
was  of  the  hardest,  and  the  standard  of  accomplish- 
ment exacting.  Deaths  from  illness  occasioned  by 
unsanitary  surroundings  were  far  more  numerous 

•  Wood,  Fight  for  Canada,  95. 


175^]  TURNING    POINT  219 

than  in  actual  battle ;  *  but  the  loss  from  desertions 
was  greater  than  either  of  the  other  two  causes 
combined.  Yet  there  were  instances  of  common 
sailors  serving  over  sixty  years  at  their  rude  calling, 
and  high  patriotic  sentiment  was  general  among 
them ;  although  there  was  also  in  the  service  a  large 
sprinkling  of  foreigners,  who  were  the  merest  hire- 
lings. In  the  popular  mind  the  navy  was  accoiint- 
ed  England's  "wooden  walls,"  and  sea  power  was 
exalted  above  all  other.  At  the  close  of  the  Seven 
Years'  War,  the  official  rolls  carried  seventy  thou- 
sand seamen,  many  of  them  with  a  fine  record  for 
steadfast  bravery  under  fire. 

France,  her  energies  chiefly  directed  toward  land 
wars  in  Europe — harrying  Frederick,  who,  although 
financially  aided  by  England,  with  difficulty  held 
his  own  against  the  allies  —  begrudged  the  money 
spent  on  her  inferior  navy.  In  India  the  British 
regained  Calcutta  and  won  Bengal  through  Clive's 
brilliant  victory  at  Plassey  (June  23,  1757) ,  the  news 
of  which  reached  London  in  November  following; 
but  the  British  did  not  yet  recognize  that  their 
empire  was  bom.  Desperate  at  these  reverses,  the 
French  began  preparations  for  invading  England, 
but  Pitt  and  Anson  made  ready  for  them  by  cen- 
tring a  series  of  great  naval  operations  in  the  Channel 
and  along  the  shores  of  France:  (i)  A  squadron  was 
set  to  watch  the  French  Atlantic  ports,  especially 

'Statistics  in  Wood,  Fight  for  Canada,  106;  Clowes,  Royal 
Navy,  III.,  21-23. 


i220  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1758 

Brest,  to  prevent  their  ships  from  getting  out  to 
sea;  (2)  flying  squadrons  attacked  several  minor 
Channel  and  Atlantic  ports  and  landed  marauding 
parties — a  movement  intended  to  keep  French 
troops  at  home,  and  thus  divert  them  from  Fred- 
erick's territory;  (3)  a  fleet  in  the  Mediterranean, 
near  Gibraltar,  was  designed  to  prevent  the  escape 
to  the  Atlantic  of  the  French  fleet  at  Toulon;  (4) 
small  expeditions  were  despatched  against  French 
colonies  in  the  West  Indies  and  along  the  African 
coast;  while  a  squadron  in  East-Indian  waters  in- 
terrupted communication  between  France  and  her 
Indian  possessions.^  The  immediate  domestic  re- 
sult of  this  wide-spread  naval  activity,  by  means  of 
which  the  ships  of  France  were  imable  to  get  to 
sea  while  her  colonies  were  being  battered  and  her 
ocean  commerce  destroyed,  was  the  postponement 
of  the  French  invasion  project  for  another  year. 

On  her  part.  New  France  could  hope  but  for  few 
reinforcements  from  the  mother-land.  Domestic 
affairs  were  at  their  worst.  Vaudreuil  and  Bigot 
continued  their  cabal  against  Montcalm,  whom  the 
short-sighted  ministry  should  have  placed  in  com- 
plete control,  but  would  not.  The  avaricious 
Bigot,  correctly  interpreting  the  handwriting  on 
the  wall,  tightened  his  hold  upon  the  avenues  of 
peculation,  by  elaborating  to  the  utmost  a  system 
of  official  thievery  which  extended  from  Vaudreuil 
himself  down  to  the  commandant  of  the  farthest 
'Clowes,  Royal  Navy,  III.,  172. 


1758]  TURNING    POINT  221 

military  and  trading  outpost.  Supplies  sent  out 
from  France  for  colonial  relief  were  intercepted 
and  sold  to  the  colonial  government  at  exorbitant 
prices  —  sometimes  twice  over,  through  collusion 
between  receipting  and  auditing  officials;  supplies 
bought  in  the  colony  for  the  king's  service  were 
paid  for  at  excessive  rates  and  in  short  meas- 
ure; Indian  presents  forwarded  by  the  home  gov- 
ernment were  privately  utilized  in  the  purchase  of 
furs  for  the  confederates ;  military  stores  were  bold- 
ly confiscated,  the  soldiers  in  the  field  being  main- 
tained in  rags  and  on  short  rations;  even  the  out- 
cast and  destitute  Acadians,  for  whom  the  ministry 
contributed  food,  fell  victims  to  this  organized  ra- 
pacity, aid  intended  for  them  going  but  to  swell 
the  warehouses  of  Bigot's  heartless  crew;  and,  in 
order  to  complete  their  rascality,  grain  and  other 
provisions  were  "cornered"  at  statutory  prices,  os- 
tensibly for  the  public  service,  and  then  doled  out 
to  the  people  at  rates  far  beyond  purchase  figures. 
Fraud  entered  into  every  branch  of  public  service, 
while  extortion,  gambling,  and  other  forms  of  private 
vice  thrived  at  Montreal  and  Quebec  as  never  before.^ 
Montcalm,  himself  untainted  and  the  scope  of 
his  authority  uncertain,  occupied  an  exceedingly 
difficult  and  delicate  position.  Overwhelmed  with 
dismay,  and  foreseeing  nothing  but  disaster  as  the 
fruit  of  this  riot  of  chicanery  in  the  face  of  a  strength- 

»  See  Parkman,  Montcalm  and  Wolfe,  II.,  37,  for  list  of  MS. 
sources  for  studying  Bigot's  career. 


222  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1758 

ening  foe,  he  privately,  but  persistently  and  unre- 
servedly, reported  the  rascals  to  the  minister  of 
war.  "It  seems,"  he  wrote,  "as  if  they  were  all 
hastening  to  make  their  fortunes  before  the  loss  of 
the  colony;  which  many  of  them  perhaps  desire  as 
a  veil  to  their  conduct."  ^  Convinced  at  last,  for 
the  evidence  adduced  by  Montcalm  was  complete, 
that  the  king  and  his  unfortunate  colonists  were, 
in  a  period  of  grave  public  danger,  being  ruthlessly 
robbed  by  the  governor  and  intendant,  who  had  cor- 
rupted the  official  life  of  New  France  to  its  core,* 
the  government  at  Versailles  now  pelted  them  with 
threatening  letters — a  futile  procedure,  for  the  mis- 
chief had  been  done  and  the  end  was  near. 

Meanwhile,  the  "tyrants  of  the  sea,"  as  the 
British  were  dubbed  by  continental  powers,  did  not 
neglect  their  land  forces.  The  army,  now  com- 
prising a  hundred  thousand  men,  was  infused  with 
vigor.  Loudoun,  detested  by  Pitt,  was  recalled 
from  America,  which  was  henceforth  to  be  the 
centre  of  British  military  operations;  but  his  suc- 
cessor, General  James  Abercromby,  was  an  unfort- 
unate choice.  Colonel  Jeffrey  Amherst,  fresh  from 
service  in  Germany,  was  also  ordered  to  the  colo- 
nies with  the  new  rank  of  major-general,  his  special 
task  being  the  siege  of  Louisburg.^ 

'Montcalm  to  Belle-Isle,  April  12,  1759. 

*  See  Doutjhty  and  Parmelce,  Siege  of  Quebec,  II.,  35-44,  for 
details  of  Bigot's  rascality  and  his  ultimate  trial. 

'  Royal  instructions  to  Amherst,  March  3,  1758,  MS.  in  Pub- 
lic Record  Office. 


1758]  TURNING    POINT  223 

The  number  of  provincial  troops  made  ready  for 
the  field  was  twenty  thousand,  several  times  in  ex- 
cess of  any  previous  levy.  The  agreement  with  Pitt 
was  that  the  provinces  should  raise,  clothe,  and  pay 
these  men — the  suggestion  being  thrown  out  that  a 
portion  of  the  cost  might  eventually  be  reimbursed 
by  Parliament  ^ — while  the  government  directly  sup- 
plied tents,  arms,  ammunition,  and  provisions,  and 
promised  that  the  regulars  should  thenceforth  rec- 
ognize the  commissions  of  militia  officers.  As  a  mat- 
ter of  fact,  the  new  generals  and  their  colleagues 
gladly  co-operated  with  the  provincials  and  treated 
them  with  frank  consideration,  the  result  being  that 
the  latter  at  once  awakened  to  enthusiasm,  and  the 
assemblies  no  longer  failed  in  their  duties.  The  day 
of  the  arrogant  martinets  who  looked  with  con- 
tempt on  the  "buckskins"  was  at  an  end;  so  also 
vanished,  in  this  era  of  good  feeling  which  Pitt  had 
inspired,  the  foolish  American  prejudice  which  long 
had  held  against  the  regulars.  The  English  colo- 
nies were  at  last  united,  and  found  in  this  union  a 
strength  which  certain  far-seeing  statesmen  in  the 
mother-country  viewed  with  prophetic  misgivings. 

In  Montcalm's  long  and  attenuated  line  of  de- 
fence, his  left  flank  consisted  of  the  river  and  gulf  of 
St.  Lawrence,  guarded  by  the  fortress  of  Louisburg, 
on  the  eastern  shore  of  Cape  Breton  Island ;  his  right. 
Lake  Ontario,  held  chiefly  by  Fort  Frontenac,  and 

'  Pitt  to  the  provincial  governors,  December  30,  1757,  MS. 
in  Public  Record  Office. 


224  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1758 

the  Ohio  Valley,  with  Fort  Duquesne  as  its  key; 
while  the  Lake  Champlain  trough  was  his  centre. 
Louisburg  was  as  well  garrisoned  as  possible,  but  its 
chief  weakness  lay  in  the  lack  of  strong  naval  sup- 
port from  France ;  for  Fort  Duquesne  nothing  could 
be  done  with  the  limited  means  at  the  general's 
command ;  he  was,  therefore,  obliged  to  concentrate 
his  defence  on  the  centre,  his  stronghold  and  base 
being  Ticonderoga,  which  he  occupied  in  June  with 
thirty-eight  hundred  well-seasoned  regulars. 

The  British  plans  of  offence  were,  as  usual,  three- 
fold :  Brigadier  John  Forbes,  with  nineteen  hundred 
regulars  and  five  thousand  provincials,  was  ordered 
to  recapture  Fort  Duquesne  and  repair  the  loss 
occasioned  by  Braddock's  tragic  failure;  the  centre 
was  to  be  attacked  by  Abercromby,  ostensibly 
aided  but  in  reality  directed  by  Brigadier-General 
Lord  Howe,  with  the  relatively  enormous  force  of 
six  thousand  regulars  and  nine  thousand  provincials ; 
while  Amherst,  aided  by  Brigadier-Generals  Charles 
Lawrence,  Edward  Whitmore,  and  James  Wolfe, 
was  to  lead  fourteen  thousand  regulars  to  the  re- 
duction of  Louisburg. 

Pitt  had  desired  that  the  siege  of  Louisburg 
should  not  commence  later  than  April  20.  But  al- 
though Admiral  Edward  Boscawen  set  sail  with 
the  army  on  February  19,  in  a  fleet  strong  enough 
to  overpower  any  possible  French  squadron  in 
American  waters,  it  was  May  9  before  his  flag-ship 
reached    Halifax,  and   the    28th   before   the   vessel 


1758]  TURNING    POINT  225 

carrying  Amherst  put  in  an  appearance.  Im- 
mediately on  Amherst's  arrival,  Boscawen  set  out 
for  the  fortress,  with  a  hundred  and  fifty-seven  sail 
transporting  twelve  thousand  troops,  and  on  June  2 
arrived  in  Gabarus  Bay,  immediately  westward  of 
Louisburg  harbor — the  latter  a  landlocked  basin 
some  seven  miles  in  circumference.^ 

It  will  be  remembered^  that  the  famous  fortress, 
which  had  been  greatly  strengthened  since  the  siege 
of  1744,  and  was  now  the  stoutest  military  strong- 
hold in  North  America,  lay  at  the  base  of  an  un- 
dulating, rocky  tongue  of  land  half  encircling  the 
harbor  upon  the  south.  The  seaward  side  was  in 
large  measure  protected  by  a  wide  marsh,  precluding 
approach  from  that  quarter.  Between  this  morass 
and  the  harbor  to  the  north  and  eastward  the 
walls  of  the  fortification  extended  for  twelve  hun- 
dred yards,  protected  by  the  Princess's,  the  Queen's, 
the  King's,  and  the  Dauphin's  bastions.  The  entire 
length  of  the  walls  was  somewhat  over  a  mile  and 
a  half,  within  them  lying  a  town  of  between  three 
and  four  thousand  inhabitants  and  a  territory  of  a 
hundred  acres.  In  either  direction  are  leagues  of 
craggy  shores,  whose  bases  are  swept  by  angry  surf 
and  boiling  tides.  The  tortuous  mouth  of  the 
harbor  is  strewn  with  reefs  and  islets,  on  one  of 

*  For  a  naval  accovint  of  the  expedition,  see  Clowes,  Royal 
Navy,  III.,  182-186.  For  lists  of  vessels  and  troops,  see  Bouri- 
not,  Cape  Breton,  68,  6g,  and  Brown,  Cape  Breton,  295. 

^  See  chapter  vii.,  above. 


226  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1758 

which  was  the  Island  Battery,  while  on  the  harbor 
main-land  were  several  outlying  batteries  of  con- 
siderable strength — chiefly  the  Grand,  on  high  land 
westward,  and  Lighthouse  Point,  the  northern  shore 
of  the  inlet. ^ 

The  fortress  walls  were  surmounted  by  two  hun- 
dred and  eighteen  cannon  and  seventeen  mortars; 
the  garrison,  under  the  Chevalier  Drucour,  com- 
prised thirty-four  hundred  regulars,  seven  hundred 
island  militia,  and  three  hundred  Indians,  besides  the 
inhabitants  of  the  town ;  and  within  the  harbor  were 
fourteen  vessels  carrying  five  hundred  and  sixty- 
two  guns  and  manned  by  crews  aggregating  three 
thousand  men.  As  less  than  ten  thousand  of  the 
British  force  were  at  any  time  fit  for  duty,  the 
fighting  strength  of  the  besiegers  was  about  twice 
that  of  the  garrison. 

Strong  as  Louisburg  undoubtedly  was,  experience 
had  already  shown  the  weak  spots  in  her  armor. 
High  land,  with  fair  cover  of  stunted  firs  and  shallow 
ravines,  closely  approached  the  Dauphin's  bastion 
upon  the  northwest  corner,  close  to  the  harbor;  it 
was  also  possible  to  approach  from  the  eastward, 
under  cover  of  a  projecting  ledge  which  had  served 
as  a  quarry  in  the  construction  of  the  fort ;  and  from 
the  south,  where  some  firm  ground  lay  between 
Princess's  bastion  and  the  sea;   while  the  French 

•  See  plans  and  details  in  Bourinot,  Cape  Breton;  also  list  of 
authorities  on  the  siege,  cited  in  Parkman,  Montcalm  and  Wolfe, 
II.,  81,  82. 


I7S8]  TURNING    POINT  227 

found  Lighthouse  Point  untenable.  There  were  also 
three  possible  landing-places  within  easy  distance 
along  the  southwest  sea-shore,  towards  Gabarus  Bay, 
and  to  these  the  brigadiers  were  speedily  ordered — 
Wolfe  to  Freshwater  Cove,  four  miles  from  the  fort ; 
Whitmore  to  Flat  Point,  three  miles  away ;  and  Law- 
rence to  White  Point,  but  a  mile  distant.  All  of  the 
landings  were  strongly  guarded  by  Drucour's  men; 
but  after  five  days  of  baffling  fog  and  surf,  Wolfe — 
although  suffering  much  from  sea -sickness  —  first 
succeeded,  effecting  a  lodgement  in  the  face  of  a  hot 
fire,  each  side  sustaining  in  the  skirmish  somewhat 
over  a  hundred  casualties.  More  than  a  hundred 
boats  were  also  stove  in  during  the  landing  of  the 
forces.  It  will  be  curious  to  note  how  closely  the 
plans  and  many  of  the  incidents  of  the  second 
siege,  conducted  by  skilled  seamen  and  generals, 
followed  those  adopted  and  experienced  fourteen 
years  previous  by  the  irregular  colonial  assailants 
under  the  doughty  Pepperrell. 

Grand  Battery  was  at  once  destroyed  by  the 
French,  and  soon  thereafter  they  abandoned  Light- 
house Point.  Wolfe,  with  twelve  hundred  men,  be- 
ing sent  to  the  latter  vantage-point,  soon  silenced 
Island  Battery  and  drove  the  French  ships  to  take 
refuge  under  the  guns  of  the  fortress.  This  left  the 
harbor  mouth  open  to  the  British;  but  six  large 
French  ships  were  at  once  sunk  in  the  channel,  with 
a  view  of  "bottling"  the  entrance.  Meanwhile, 
Amherst    was    slowly    approaching   the    Dauphin's 


228  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1758 

bastion  by  regular  trenches;  and  Wolfe,  in  addition 
to  his  north  -  side  duties,  and  his  assistance  to 
Amherst,  was  pushing  parallels  towards  the  southern 
end  of  the  walls,  opposite  Princess's  bastion.  On 
July  16  this  omnipresent  officer  made  a  bold  dash 
which  effected  an  intrenched  lodgement  on  high 
ground  within  three  hundred  yards  of  the  Dauphin's, 
from  which  he  could  not  be  driven  by  the  furious 
cannonading  that  at  once  greeted  him. 

On  July  21  a  shell  fell  upon  and  lighted  one  of 
the  French  men-of-war,  which,  drifting,  set  fire  to 
two  others,  all  three  being  burned  to  the  water's 
edge.  The  two  now  left  were  attacked  a  few  nights 
later  by  six  hundred  British  sailors — among  whom 
was  a  petty  officer  later  world-renowned  as  Captain 
James  Cook,  the  marine  explorer — who  boldly  rowed 
out  into  the  harbor  under  a  storm  of  shells  from  the 
French  batteries,  captured  the  crews,  and  sought  to 
tow  the  vessels  to  the  outer  sea.  One  of  them 
grounded  and  was  burned  by  her  captors,  but  the 
other  —  the  sole  remaining  ship  in  the  original 
French  fleet  of  fourteen — was  successfully  removed. 

Gradually  the  coil  of  British  parallels  encircling 
the  great  fortress  was  drawn  closer  and  closer. 
Amherst's  redoubts  had  badly  shattered  the  bastions, 
the  citadel,  the  hospital,  the  barracks,  and  most  of 
the  other  principal  buildings ;  while  within,  the  walls 
were  now  crumbling  under  their  own  fire,  several 
of  the  batteries  being  thereby  silenced.  On  the 
26th,  with    scarcely    more    than    a    dozen    of    his 


1758]  TURNING    POINT  229 

cannon  available,  with  great  breaches  showing  in 
the  principal  bastions,  the  inhabitants  insisting  that 
further  resistance  meant  useless  waste  of  life,  and 
the  British  preparing  for  a  general  and  supposedly 
final  assault,  Drucour,  who  had  conducted  a  brave 
and  even  skilful  defence,  sued  for  capitulation. 
Amherst  and  Boscawen,  whose  naval  co-operation 
had  of  course  been  of  the  greatest  service,  would 
offer  no  better  terms  than  to  accept  the  besieged, 
now  six  thousand  in  number,  as  prisoners  of  war, 
to  be  taken  to  England ;  and  on  the  following  morn- 
ing the  victors  triumphantly  marched  in  by  the 
west  gate.  The  British  loss  had  been  but  five 
hundred  and  twenty-one  killed  and  wounded;  the 
French  casualties  were  doubtless  greater,  especially 
from  camp  diseases — possibly  a  thousand  all  told.^ 
Amherst  was  now  anxious  that  Boscawen  should 
take  the  army  to  Quebec  and  endeavor  by  the  same 
tactics  to  conquer  that  stronghold.  But  the  admiral, 
although  a  tenacious  fighter,  thought  the  time  not 
ripe  for  so  daring  an  enterprise.  The  general  accord- 
ingly detailed  four  battalions  as  a  garrison  for 
Louisburg,  and  sent  Monckton,  Wolfe,  and  Lord 
Rollo  in  separate  commands  to  complete  the 
subjugation  of  Prince  Edward's  Island,  the  Gulf 
of  St.  Lawrence,  and  the  Bay  of  Fundy;  the  French 


*  Amherst's  report  Quly  27,  1758)  "of  the  guns,  mortars, 
shot,  shell,  etc.,  found  in  the  Town  of  Louisburg  upon  its  sur- 
render this  day,"  cited  in  Parkman,  Montcalm  and  Wolfe, 
II.,  7S. 


23©  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1758 

having,  with  the  fortress,  agreed  to  surrender  all 
their  possessions  in  land,  garrisons,  and  stores  upon 
and  around  the  great  gulf.  This  unwelcome  task 
accomplished,  Wolfe,  who  was  quite  the  hero  of  the 
siege,  departed  for  home  on  sick-leave.  Amherst, 
meanwhile,  sailed  with  five  battalions  for  Boston, 
where  they  were  received  (September  14)  with  such 
boisterous  enthusiasm  that  the  general  complained, 
"  I  could  not  prevent  the  men  from  being  filled  with 
rum  by  the  inhabitants."* 

As  for  Louisburg,  the  inhabitants — chiefly  mer- 
chants and  fishermen,  with  their  families  —  were 
eventually  removed  to  the  French  port  of  La 
Rochelle;  and  two  years  later  (1760)  the  majestic 
walls  were  overturned,  for  the  neighboring  British 
stronghold  at  Halifax  was  sufficient  for  that  quarter 
of  the  world.  To-day  the  site  of  this  once  formi- 
dable fortress,  which  bulks  so  largely  upon  the  pages 
of  our  colonial  history,  is  occupied  by  a  small  hamlet 
of  Scotch  and  Irish  fishermen;  these  eke  out  their 
slender  incomes  by  guiding  summer  tourists  among 
the  grass-grown  ridges  and  mounds  which — after 
nearly  a  century  and  a  half  of  spoliation,  for  this 
Cyclopean  mass  of  cut  stone  is  still  the  quarry  of  a 
neighborhood  with  bounds  extending  to  Halifax — 
are  about  all  that  now  remain  of  the  walls  and 
buildings  of  "  the  Dunkirk  of  America" ;  while  under 
the  crumbling  arches  of  those  shell- wracked  bastions 

'Amherst  to  Pitt,  September  18,  1758,  MS.  in  Public  Record 
Office. 


1758]  TURNING    POINT  231 

that  have  survived  the  tooth  of  time,  sheep  are 
safely  folded  from  the  ocean  tempests  which  fre- 
quently sweep  across  this  rugged  little  peninsula. 

The  lateness  of  the  season  when  Amherst  and 
Boscawen  found  it  possible  to  begin  the  siege,  com- 
bined with  the  obstinacy  of  the  French  defence, 
rendered  it  impracticable  for  Amherst  to  carry  out 
his  programme  of  assistance  to  Abercromby,  upon 
whom  had  devolved  the  duty  of  attacking  Mont- 
calm's centre.  Early  in  June — after  long  and  vexa- 
tious delays  in  assembling  and  training  provincial 
troops  and  forwarding  supplies  up  the  Hudson  to 
Fort  Edward  —  the  British  general  assembled  his 
fifteen  thousand  regulars  and  provincials  at  the 
head  of  Lake  George.  A  political  appointee,  with 
but  small  ability,  Abercromby  depended  chiefly 
upon  his  brilliant  lieutenant,  Brigadier  Lord  Howe, 
whom  Wolfe  declared  to  be  "  the  noblest  Englishman 
that  has  appeared  in  my  time,  and  the  best  soldier 
in  the  British  army,"  and  whom  Pitt  described  as  "  a 
character  of  ancient  times;  a  complete  model  of 
military  virtue."  The  campaign  had  to  this  point 
been  in  every  detail  directed  by  Howe,  selected  by 
Pitt  because  he  possessed  the  qualities  in  which 
Abercromby  was  conspicuously  lacking.^ 

July  4,  1758,  the  army  advanced  against  Ticon- 
deroga  in  a  brilliant  line  six  miles  in  length.  The 
following  day  they  were  suddenly  attacked  in  the 
depth  of  the  forest  by  their  bush-ranging  foe,  and 

*  Chesterfield,  Letters  (Mahon's  ed.),  IV.,  260. 


232  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1758 

it  was  with  difficulty  that  a  panic  akin  to  Braddock's 
Field  was  averted.  In  the  course  of  the  skirmish, 
wherein  the  enemy  were  seldom  seen,  Howe  was 
killed,  to  the  genuine  sorrow  of  every  man  in  the 
column,  for  he  was  universally  popular.  As  for  the 
French,  they  were  caught  between  two  fires,  and 
precipitately  fled  with  considerable  loss.  With  the 
fall  of  their  real  commander,  however,  the  British 
rapidly  became  demoralized,  for  Abercromby  could 
not  take  Howe's  place.  "  With  his  death  the  whole 
soul  of  the  army  expired."* 

Throughout  July  8,  from  nine  in  the  morning 
until  twilight,  a  furious  battle  raged  in  front  of 
Ticonderoga  and  its  outlying  breastworks  and 
formidable  abattis  of  fallen  trees.  Both  British 
and  French  fought  with  the  utmost  spirit  and 
bravery,  the  contest  being  compared  by  experts  to 
Malplaquet  and  Badajoz.  But  the  British  were 
without  a  leader,  and  struck  wildly;  while  the  cool 
and  calculating  Montcalm,  admirably  intrenched, 
and  aided  by  his  two  best  lieutenants,  L6vis  and 
Bourlamaque,  was  everywhere,  and  never  to  better 
effect.  Under  cover  of  darkness,  the  blundering  and 
now  disheartened  Abercromby  withdrew  with  his  thir- 
teen thousand  men  without  attempting  another  at- 
tack. His  loss  had  been  nineteen  hundred  and  forty- 
four  in  killed,  wounded,  and  missing,  while  the  French 
reported  but  three  hundred  and  seventy-seven.' 

'  Fortescue,  British  Army,  326. 

'  Parkman,  Montcalm  and  Wolfe,  II.,  App.,  431-433. 


1758]  TURNING    POINT  233 

Montcalm  wrote  to  his  wife,  exultantly  and  with 
some  measure  of  overstatement:  "Without  Indians, 
almost  without  Canadians  or  colony  troops — I  had 
only  four  hundred  —  alone  with  Levis  and  Bour- 
lamaque  and  the  troops  of  the  line,  thirty-one  htm- 
dred  fighting  men,  I  have  beaten  an  army  of 
twenty-five  thousand.  They  repassed  the  lake  pre- 
cipitately, with  a  loss  of  at  least  five  thousand." 
In  the  same  strain,  he  wrote  to  another:  "What  a 
day  for  France !  If  I  had  had  two  hundred  Indians 
to  send  out  at  the  head  of  a  thousand  picked  men 
under  the  Chevalier  de  Levis,  not  many  would  have 
escaped.  Ah,  my  dear  Doreil,  what  soldiers  are 
ours!  I  never  saw  the  like.  Why  were  they  not 
at  Louisburg?"  ^ 

In  his  elation  Montcalm  was  cautious.  He  was 
content  with  having  given  to  New  France  another 
year  of  life,  and  did  nothing  further  than  to  im- 
prove the  defences  of  Ticonderoga,  and  with  his 
bush-rangers  to  haunt  the  road  which  lay  between 
Lake  George  and  Fort  Edward.  On  his  part, 
Abercromby  remained  supinely  in  camp  at  the 
head  of  Lake  Champlain  through  the  remainder  of 
the  season.  In  October,  Amherst  arrived,  but  it 
was  then  too  late  to  accomplish  any  result,  and  the 
army  prepared  to  spend  the  winter  on  the  spot. 

Lieutenant  -  Colonel  John  Bradstreet,  of  Aber- 
cromby's  command,  a  dashing  and  accomplished 
officer,    had    long   wished    to    lead    an    expedition 

'  Parkman,  Montcalm  and  Wolfe,  II.,  App.,  iii,  112. 

VOL      VII. — 17 


234  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1758 

against  Fort  Frontenac  (the  modern  town  of  King- 
ston, Ontario),  which  lay  at  the  outlet  of  Lake 
Ontario.  It  had  been  an  important  vantage-point 
for  the  French  from  the  old  days  of  La  Salle,  and 
commanded  Oswego,  Niagara,  and  thus  the  lake 
route  to  the  west.  Loudoun  had  favored  the  scheme, 
but  Abercromby  overruled  it ;  his  endorsement  was, 
however,  forced  by  a  council  of  war,  held  soon  after 
the  battle  of  Ticonderoga. 

With  twenty-five  hundred  men,  Bradstreet  dodged 
the  enemy  on  the  portage  trail,  returned  to  Albany, 
ascended  by  the  Mohawk  route  to  Oswego,  crossed 
the  lake,  and  on  August  25  arrived  before  Fort 
Frontenac.  That  stronghold  was  garrisoned  by 
only  a  hundred  men,  while  nine  small  vessels  were 
in  the  harbor.  These  fell  an  easy  prize  to  the  ad- 
venturous colonel  (August  27),  who  destroyed  the 
fort  and  all  but  two  of  the  ships,  and  returned  to 
Albany  exultant. 

He  had  reason  to  be,  for  his  success  was  by  all 
means  the  most  important  strategical  accomplish- 
ment of  the  year:  Lake  Ontario,  one  of  the  two  im- 
portant gateways  to  the  west,  was  now  entirely  un- 
der British  control.  Thus  Fort  Niagara  was  isolated, 
and  the  French  could  no  longer  communicate  with 
the  Ohio  River.  Fort  Duquesne  lay  at  the  mercy 
of  the  British  advance,  which  speedily  followed. 
Brigadier  Forbes,  a  Scotch  veteran  charged  with 
the  Duquesne  expedition,  had  arrived  in  Philadel- 
phia in  April,   but  found  no  army  awaiting  him, 


1758]  TURNING    POINT  235 

although  troops  had  been  promised  from  Pennsyl- 
vania, Maryland,  Virginia,  and  North  Carolina. 
June  was  nearly  ended  before  he  could  march. 
His  force  aggregated  between  six  and  seven  thou- 
sand men,  among  whom  were  twelve  hundred  High- 
landers under  Colonel  Montgomery,  and  a  battalion 
of  the  Sixtieth  Royal  Americans  commanded  by 
Colonel  Henry  Bouquet,  a  brave  and  ingenious 
Swiss  officer  who  had  invented  a  forest  drill  which 
included  the  most  effective  of  Indian  tactics.  The 
Virginians,  clad  in  fringed  leather  hunting  -  shirts, 
and  now  a  well-trained  body  of  fighters,  were  head- 
ed by  Colonel  Washington,  whose  judgment  was  fre- 
quently asked  by  his  fellow-officers. 

Much  time  was  spent  over  deciding  which  road 
to  take — Braddock's,  from  Virginia,  or  a  new  trail 
to  be  struck  out  through  the  dense  forests  of  Penn- 
sylvania. The  latter  was  selected,  after  much  dis- 
play of  provincial  jealousy,  for  each  colony  was 
desirous  both  of  the  prestige  and  the  profit  to  be 
derived  from  the  presence  of  the  troops.  Forbes's 
plan  of  moving  forward  by  easy  stages,  and  leaving 
behind  him  a  line  of  block-houses  as  a  continuous 
base,  was  safe,  and  it  had  the  advantage  of  being 
slow.  Aware  that  the  French  commander  had 
gathered  at  Fort  Duquesne  the  usual  crew  of 
breech-clouted  Indian  allies  from  the  upper  Great 
Lakes,  and  knowing  their  lack  of  patience,  Forbes 
thought  to  weary  the  waiting  savages  until  they 
should,  in   disgust  at   the   non-appearance  of  the 


236  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1758 

English,  return  to  their  homes* — which  is  exactly 
what  happened.  Meanwhile,  the  brigadier  upon 
his  leisurely  progress  called  a  convention  of  Iro- 
quois, Delaware,  Mingo,  and  Shawnee,  which  met 
at  Easton  in  October,  and  those  powerful  tribes 
gave  in  their  adherence  to  the  English.^ 

The  advancing  column  met  with  some  reverses 
at  the  hands  of  French  bush-rangers,  but  the  capt- 
ure of  Fort  Frontenac  had  really  decided  the  sit- 
uation. The  Indians  deserted  Fort  Duquesne,  the 
Canadian  militia  returned  home  for  the  winter,  and 
De  Ligneris,  the  commandant,  was  left  with  a  gar- 
rison of  but  four  or  five  hundred.  When  (Novem- 
ber 25,  1758)  Forbes 's  advance  guard  reached  the 
fortress,  they  discovered  nothing  but  blackened 
ruins — the  walls  having  been  blown  up  the  previ- 
ous night,  and  barracks  and  stores  burned;  while 
the  defenders  had  scattered  by  land  and  water, 
some  down  the  Ohio  to  Fort  Massac,  others  to 
Presq'isle,  and  the  commander  with  a  small  body- 
guard to  Fort  Machault,  the  Venango  of  former 
years.  With  Lake  Ontario  possessed  by  the  enemy, 
retreat  to  Canada  was  now  impracticable. 

Montcalm's  right  flank  had  thus  not  only  been 
shattered  at  two  points,  but  its  extremity  had  been 
driven  into  the  interior,  and,  through  the  loss  of 

•  Forbes  to  Bouquet,  August  18,  1758,  Bouqttet  and  Haldimand 
Papers,  MSS.  in  British  Museum. 

»  See  journals  of  Charies  Frederick  Post,  in  Thwaites,  Early 
Western  Travels,  I.,  185-201:  this  missionary  was  the  principal 
go-between  in  the  British-Indian  negotiations  of  1758-1759. 


1758]  TURNING    POINT  237 

Fort  Frontenac,  entirely  cut  off  from  its  base  on 
the  St.  Lawrence.  His  left  flank  had  been  sadly 
maimed,  through  the  fall  of  Louisburg,  but  there 
was  still  left  a  fighting  chance  for  communication 
with  the  sea.  His  centre  was  still  intact,  however, 
and  with  consummate  courage  he  awaited  another 
year,  hoping  for  the  best  but  fearing  the  end. 

Despite  the  jubilant  tone  adopted  in  his  letters 
to  Marquise  Montcalm  and  his  friends,  he  really 
foimd  small  encouragement  in  the  Ticonderoga  in- 
cident, and  was  despondent  over  the  future.  Folly 
in  the  enemy's  plan  had  alone  saved  the  French 
from  being  hemmed  in  to  the  St.  Lawrence.  Partly 
because  of  neglect  by  the  Versailles  government, 
partly  owing  to  the  British  naval  blockade,  partly 
because  Vaudreuil  and  Bigot  were  interested  in  sup- 
pressing news  of  the  actual  condition  of  affairs,  but 
in  large  measure  because  troops  were  being  poured 
into  Germany  by  the  hundred  thousand  and  few 
were  left  for  Canada,  New  France  was  at  last  on  the 
brink  of  ruin.  The  military  levies  took  so  many 
men  from  the  fields  that  an  insufficient  crop  had 
been  garnered.  The  dissensions  between  the  gov- 
ernor and  the  general  now  reached  a  point  almost 
unbearable,  the  civil  and  military  establishments 
being  wellnigh  at  a  deadlock. 

Montcalm  sought  to  resign,  but  the  fall  of  Du- 
quesne  and  Louisburg  caused  him  to  withdraw  his 
request  and  resolve  to  stand  by  the  colony.  His 
appeal  to  Vaudreuil  for  harmony  (August  23)  was 


238  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1758 

useless.  Dissatisfaction  and  official  debauchery- 
were  rampant,  for  Bigot  and  his  fellows  were  lining 
their  nests  in  anticipation  of  the  crash  that  should 
destroy  the  evidences  of  their  evil  deeds;  the  fur- 
trade  had  been  ruined;  a  financial  crisis  was  at 
hand.  But  outside  the  governmental  cabal  the 
people  of  New  France  were  firm  against  the  com- 
mon foe;  although  hard  pressed,  and  with  divided 
councils,  civilians  and  soldiers  were  willing  to  con- 
tend for  their  king  and  their  religion  to  the  last. 

Marshal  Belle-Isle,  the  French  war  minister,  fear- 
ed the  worst,  but  admonished  Montcalm  to  at  least 
retain  some  footing  upon  North  America:  "How- 
ever small  soever  the  space  you  are  able  to  hold 
may  be,  it  is  indispensable  to  keep  a  foothold  in 
North  America;  for,  if  we  once  lose  the  country 
entirely,  its  recovery  will  be  almost  impossible." 
To  which  the  general — the  one  admirable  character 
in  the  public  life  of  New  France,  in  these  its  closing 
months — replied,  "  I  shall  do  everything  to  save  this 
unhappy  colony,  or  die."  As  for  the  English,  eager 
and  pressing,  they  were  not  at  all  disheartened  by 
the  disaster  at  Ticonderoga.  The  causes  of  the  fail- 
ure were  patent:  Abercromby  had  stupidly  blun- 
dered; and  it  was  resolved  to  avoid  his  mistakes 
in  another,  and  it  was  hoped  final,  attempt. 


CHAPTER  XV 

THE  FALL  OF  QUEBEC 
(1759) 

THE  British  Pariiament  met  late  in  November, 
1758,  at  a  time  when  the  nation  was  aglow 
with  enthusiasm  over  the  successes  of  the  year — 
Louisburg  and  Frontenac  in  North  America,  and 
the  driving  of  the  French  from  the  Guinea  coast  as 
the  result  of  battles  at  Senegal  (May)  and  Goree 
(November).*  The  war  was  proving  far  more  costly 
than  had  been  anticipated,  yet  Pitt  rigidly  held  the 
country  to  the  task ;  but  not  against  its  will,  and  the 
necessary  funds  were  freely  voted.  Walpole  wrote 
to  a  friend:  "  Our  unanimity  is  prodigious.  You 
would  as  soon  hear  '  No '  from  an  old  maid  as  from 
the  House  of  Commons."  The  preparations  for  the 
new  year  were  on  a  much  larger  scale  than  before ; 
both  by  land  and  sea  France  was  to  be  pushed  to 
the  uttermost,  and  the  warlike  spirit  of  Great  Brit- 
ain seemed  wrought  to  the  highest  pitch. 

The  new  French  premier,  Choiseul,  was  himself 
not  lacking  in  activity.  He  renewed  with  vigor  the 
project   of   invading   Great    Britain,    preparations 

'Clowes,  Royal  Navy,  III.,  186-189. 
239 


240  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1759 

therefor  being  evident  quite  early  in  the  year 
1759.  Fifty  thousand  men  were  to  land  in  Eng- 
land, and  twelve  thousand  in  Scotland,  where  the 
Stuart  cause  still  hngered.  But  as  usual  the  effort 
came  to  naught.  The  Toulon  squadron  was  to  co- 
operate with  one  from  Brest;  Boscawen,  who  now 
commanded  the  Mediterranean  fleet,  apprehended 
the  former  while  trying  to  escape  through  the 
Straits  of  Gibraltar  in  a  thick  haze  (August  ly), 
and  after  destroying  several  of  the  ships  dispersed 
the  others;  while  Sir  Edward  Hawke  annihilated 
the  Brest  fleet  in  a  brilliant  sea-fight  off  Quiberon 
Bay  (November  20).^  Relieved  of  the  possibiHty 
of  insular  invasion,  the  Channel  and  Mediterranean 
squadrons  were  now  free  to  raid  French  commerce, 
patrol  French  ports,  and  thus  intercept  communi- 
cation with  New  France  and  to  harry  French  — 
and,  later,  Spanish — colonies  over-seas. 

We  have  seen  that  in  1757  Clive  had  regained 
Calcutta  and  won  Bengal  at  the  famous  battle  of 
Plassey.  Two  years  thereafter  the  East  Indian 
seas  were  abandoned  by  the  French  after  three  de- 
cisive actions  won  by  Pitt's  valiant  seamen,  and 
India  thus  became  a  permanent  possession  of  the 
British  empire.^  In  January,  1759,  also,  the  British 
captured  Guadeloupe,  in  the  West  Indies.'  Lack- 
ing sea  power,  it  was  impossible  for  France  much 
longer  to  hold  her  colonies ;  it  was  but  a  question 

'  Clowes,  ivova/  Navy,  III.,  210-214,  on  Boscawen's  victory; 
216-222,  on  Hawke's.         ^  Ibid.,  196-201.         '  Ibid.,  201-203. 


1759]  FALL    OF   QUEBEC  241 

of  time  when  the  remainder  should  fall  into  the 
clutches  of  the  mistress  of  the  ocean. 

Notwithstanding  all  this  naval  activity,  Pitt's 
principal  operations  were  really  centred  against 
Canada.  The  movement  thither  was  to  be  along 
two  lines,  which  eventually  were  to  meet  in  co- 
operation. First,  a  direct  attack  was  to  be  made 
upon  Quebec,  headed  by  Wolfe,  who  was  to  be 
convoyed  and  assisted  by  a  fleet  under  the  command 
of  Admiral  Saunders;  second,  Amherst — now  com- 
mander-in-chief in  America,  Abercromby  having 
been  recalled  —  was  to  penetrate  Canada  by  way 
of  lakes  George  and  Champlain.  He  was  to  join 
Wolfe  at  Quebec,  but  was  authorized  to  make  such 
diversions  as  he  found  practicable  —  principally  to 
re-establish  Oswego  and  to  relieve  Pittsburg  (Fort 
Duquesne)  with  reinforcements  and  supplies. 

Wolfe's  selection  as  leader  of  the  Quebec  ex- 
pedition occasioned  general  surprise  in  England. 
Yet  it  was  in  the  natural  course  of  events.  He 
had  been  the  life  of  the  Louisburg  campaign  of  the 
year  before,  and  when  Amherst  was  expressing  the 
desire  of  attacking  Quebec  after  the  reduction  of 
Cape  Breton  he  wrote  to  the  latter:  "An  offensive, 
daring  kind  of  war  will  awe  the  Indians  and  ruin 
the  French.  Block-houses  and  a  trembling  defen- 
sive encourage  the  meanest  scoundrels  to  attack 
us.  If  you  will  attempt  to  cut  up  New  France  by 
the  roots,  I  will  come  with  pleasure  to  assist."  * 

^  Parkman,  Montcalm  and  Wolfe,  II.,  80. 


242  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1759 

Wolfe,  whose  family  enjoyed  some  influence,  had 
attained  a  captaincy  at  the  age  of  seventeen  and 
became  a  major  at  twenty.  He  was  now  thirty-two, 
a  major-general,  and  with  an  excellent  fighting 
record  both  in  Flanders  and  America.  Quiet  and 
modest  in  demeanor,  although  occasionally  using 
excitable  and  ill -guarded  language,  he  was  a  re- 
fined and  educated  gentleman,  careful  of  and  be- 
loved by  his  troops,  yet  a  stern  disciplinarian;  and 
although  frail  in  body,  and  often  overcome  by 
rheumatism  and  other  ailments,  capable  of  great 
strain  when  buoyed  by  the  zeal  which  was  one  of 
his  characteristics.  The  majority  of  his  portraits 
represent  a  tall,  lank,  ungainly  form,  with  a  singu- 
larly weak  facial  profile ;  but  it  is  likely  that  these 
belie  him,  for  he  had  an  indubitable  spirit,  a  pro- 
found mind,  quick  intuition,  a  charming  manner, 
and  was  much  thought  of  by  women.  Indeed,  just 
before  sailing,  he  had  become  engaged  to  the  beauti- 
ful and  charming  Katharine  Lowther,  sister  of  Lord 
Lonsdale,  and  afterwards  the  Duchess  of  Bolton.* 

On  February  17,  Wolfe  departed  with  Saunders's 
fleet  of  twenty-one  sail,  bearing  the  king's  secret 
instructions  to  "carry  into  execution  the  said  im- 
portant operation  with  the  utmost  application  and 
vigour."  ^     The  voyage  was   protracted,  and   after 


*  For  biographical  details  of  Wolfe's  early  career,  see  Wright, 
Life,  and  Doughty  and  Parmelee,  Siege  of  Quebec,  I.,  1-128; 
in  ibid.,  II.,  16,  is  a  portrait  of  Wolfe's  fiancee. 

'  Text  in  Doughty  and  Parmelee,  Siege  of  Quebec,  VI.,  87-90. 


1759]  FALL    OF   QUEBEC  243 

arrival  at  Louisburg  he  was  obliged  to  wait  long 
before  the  promised  troops  appeared.  He  had  ex- 
pected regiments  from  Guadaloupe,  but  these  could 
not  yet  be  spared,  owing  to  their  wretched  condi- 
tion; and  the  Nova  Scotia  garrisons  had  also  been 
weakened  by  disease,  so  that  of  the  twelve  thousand 
agreed  upon  he  finally  could  muster  somewhat 
under  nine  thousand/  These  were  of  the  best 
quality  of  their  kind;  although  the  general  still 
entertained  a  low  opinion  of  the  value  of  the 
provincials,  who,  it  must  be  admitted,  were,  how- 
ever serviceable  in  bush-ranging,  far  below  the  ef- 
ficiency of  the  regulars  in  a  campaign  of  this  char- 
acter. The  force  was  divided  into  three  brigades, 
under  Monckton,  Townsend,  and  Murray,  young  men 
of  ability;  although  Townsend's  supercilious  man- 
ner— the  fruit  of  a  superior  social  connection — did 
not  endear  him  either  to  his  men  or  his  colleagues. 
On  June  i  the  fleet  began  to  leave  Louisburg. 
There  were  thirty  -  nine  men  -  of  -  war,  ten  auxil- 
iaries, seventy-six  transports,  and  a  hundred  and 
sixty- two  miscellaneous  craft,  which  were  manned 
by  thirteen  thousand  naval  seamen  and  five  thou- 
sand of  the  mercantile  marine — an  aggregate  of 
eighteen  thousand,  or  twice  as  many  as  the 
landsmen  under  Wolfe.^  While  to  the  latter  is 
commonly  given  credit  for  the  result,  it  must  not 
be  forgotten  that  the   victory  was  quite   as  much 

*  Lists  in  Doughty  and  Parmelee,  Siege  of  Quebec,  II.,  22,  23. 
'Wood,  Fight  for  Canada,  166,  167,  173. 


244  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1759 

due  to  the  skilful  management  of  the  navy  as  to 
that  of  the  army,  the  expedition  being  in  all  respects  a 
joint  enterprise,  into  which  the  men  of  both  branches 
of  the  service  entered  with  intense  enthusiasm. 

The  French  had  placed  much  reliance  on  the  sup- 
posed impossibility  of  great  battle-ships  being  suc- 
cessfully navigated  up  the  St.  Lawrence  above  the 
mouth  of  the  Saguenay  without  the  most  careful 
piloting.  This  portion  of  the  river,  a  hundred  and 
twenty  miles  in  length,  certainly  is  intricate  water, 
being  streaked  with  perplexing  currents  created  by 
the  mingling  of  the  river's  strong  flow  with  the 
flood  and  ebb  of  the  tide;  the  great  stream  is  di- 
verted into  two  parallel  channels  by  reefs  and 
islands,  and  there  are  numerous  shoals — moreover, 
the  French  had  removed  all  lights  and  other  aids 
to  navigation.  But  British  sailors  laughed  at  diffi- 
culties such  as  these,  and,  while  they  managed  to 
capture  a  pilot,  had  small  use  for  him,  preferring 
their  own  cautious  methods.  Preceded  by  a  cres- 
cent of  sounding-boats,  officered  by  Captain  James 
Cook,  afterwards  of  glorious  memory  as  a  path- 
finder, the  fleet  advanced  slowly  but  safely,  its  ap- 
proach heralded  by  beacons  gleaming  nightly  to  the 
fore,  upon  the  rounded  hill-tops  overlooking  the  long, 
thin  line  of  river-side  settlement  which  extended 
eastward  from  Quebec  to  the  Saguenay.^ 

'"Journal  of  the  Expedition  up  the  River  St.  Lawrence," 
by  a  sergeant-major  of  grenadiers,  in  Doughty  and  Parmelec/^ 
Siege  of  Quebec,  V.,  i-ii. 


1759]  FALL    OF   QUEBEC  245 

The  French  had  at  first  expected  attacks  only 
from  Lake  Ontario  and  from  the  south.  But  re- 
ceiving early  tidings  of  Wolfe's  expedition,  through 
convoys  with  supplies  from  France  that  had  es- 
caped Saunders's  patrol  of  the  gulf,  general  alarm 
prevailed,  and  Montcalm  decided  to  make  his  stand 
at  Quebec.  To  the  last  he  appears  to  have  shared 
in  the  popular  delusion  that  British  men-of-war 
could  not  ascend  the  river ;  nevertheless,  he  prompt- 
ly summoned  to  the  capital  the  greater  part  of  the 
militia  from  all  sections  of  Canada,  save  that  a 
thousand  whites  and  savages  were  left  with  Pouchot 
to  defend  Niagara,  twelve  hundred  men  under  De 
la  Come  to  guard  Lake  Ontario,  and  Bourlamaque, 
with  upwards  of  three  thousand,  was  ordered  to 
delay  Amherst's  advance  and  thus  prevent  him 
from  joining  Wolfe.  The  population  of  Canada  at 
the  time  was  about  eighty-five  thousand  souls,  and 
of  these  perhaps  twenty-two  thousand  were  capable 
of  bearing  arms.^  The  force  now  gathered  in  and 
about  Quebec  aggregated  about  seventeen  thou- 
sand, of  whom  some  ten  thousand  were  militia,  four 
thousand  regulars  of  the  line,  and  a  thousand  each 
of  colonial  regulars,  seamen,  and  Indians;  of  these 
two  thousand  were  reserved  for  the  garrison  of  Que- 
bec, imder  De  Ramezay,  while  the  remainder  were 
at  the  disposal  of  Montcalm  for  the  general  de- 
fence.^ 

'  Dovighty  and  Parmelee,  Siege  of  Quebec,  II.,  51-53- 
*  Wood,  Fight  for  Canada,  152. 


246  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1759 

The  "rock  of  Quebec"  is  the  northeast  end  of  a 
long,  narrow,  triangular  promontory,  to  the  north 
of  which  lies  the  valley  of  the  St.  Charles  and  to 
the  south  that  of  the  St.  Lawrence.  The  acclivity 
on  the  St.  Charles  side  is  lower  and  less  steep  than 
the  cliffs  fringing  the  St.  Lawrence,  which  rise  al- 
most precipitously  from  two  to  three  hundred  feet 
above  the  river — the  citadel  cliff  being  three  hun- 
dred and  forty-five  feet,  almost  sheer.  Either  side 
of  the  promontory  was  easily  defensible  from  as- 
sault, the  table-land  being  only  reached  by  steep 
and  narrow  paths.  Surmounting  the  cliffs,  at  the 
apex  of  the  triangle,  was  Upper  Town,  the  capital 
of  New  France.  Batteries,  largely  manned  by  sail- 
ors, lined  the  cliff-tops  within  the  town,  and  the 
western  base,  fronting  the  Plains  of  Abraham,  was 
protected  by  fifteen  hundred  yards  of  insecure  wall 
— for,  after  all,  Quebec  had,  despite  the  money  spent 
upon  it,  never  been  scientifically  fortified,  its  com- 
manders having  from  the  first  relied  chiefly  upon 
its  natural  position  as  a  stronghold. 

At  the  base  of  the  promontory,  on  the  St.  Lawrence 
side,  is  a  wide  beach  occupied  by  Lower  Town,  where 
were  the  market,  the  commercial  warehouses,  a  large 
share  of  the  business  establishments,  and  the  homes 
of  the  trading  and  laboring  classes.  A  narrow 
strand,  little  more  than  the  width  of  a  roadway,  ex- 
tended along  the  base  of  the  cliffs  westward,  com- 
municating with  the  up-river  country ;  another  road 
led  westward  along  the  table- land  above.     Thus  the 


1759]  FALL    OF    QUEBEC  247 

city  obtained  its  supplies  from  the  interior  both  by 
highway  and  by  river. 

Entrance  to  the  St.  Charles  side  of  the  promontory 
had  been  blocked  by  booms  at  the  mouth  of  that 
river,  protected  by  strong  redoubts;  and  off  Lower 
Town  was  a  line  of  floating  batteries.  Beyond  the 
St.  Charles,  for  a  distance  of  seven  miles  eastward 
to  the  gorge  of  the  Montmorenci,  Montcalm  disposed 
the  greater  part  of  his  forces,  his  position  being  a 
plain  naturally  protected  by  a  steep  slope  descend- 
ing to  the  meadow  and  tidal  flats  which  here  margin 
the  St.  Lawrence.  This  plain  rises  gradually  from 
the  St.  Charles,  until  at  the  Montmorenci  cataract  it 
attains  a  height  of  three  hundred  feet,  and  along 
the  summit  of  the  slope  were  well-devised  trenches. 
The  gorge  furnished  a  strong  natural  defence  to 
the  left  wing,  for  it  could  be  forded  only  in  the 
dense  forest  at  a  considerable  distance  above  the 
falls,  and  to  force  this  approach  would  have  been 
to  invite  an  ambuscade.  Wolfe  contented  himself, 
therefore,  with  intrenching  a  considerable  force 
along  the  eastern  bank  of  the  gorge,  and  thence 
issuing  for  frontal  attacks  on  the  Beauport  Flats 
— so  called  from  the  name  of  the  village  midway. 
Montcalm  had  chosen  this  as  the  chief  line  of  de- 
fence, on  the  theory  that  the  approach  by  the  St. 
Charles  would  be  the  one  selected  by  the  invaders ; 
as,  indeed,  it  long  seemed  to  Wolfe  the  only  possible 
path  to  the  works  of  Upper  Town. 

Westward   of   the    city,    upon   the   table  -  land. 


248  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1759 

Bougainville  headed  a  corps  of  observation,  sup- 
posed continually  to  patrol  the  St.  Lawrence  cliff- 
tops  and  keep  communications  open  with  the  in- 
terior; but  this  precaution  failed  in  the  hour  of 
need.  The  height  of  Point  Levis,  across  the  river 
from  the  town,  on  the  south  bank,  was  unoccu- 
pied. Montcalm  had  wished  to  fortify  this  vantage- 
point,  and  thus  block  the  river  from  both  sides, 
but  Vaudreuil  had  overruled  him,  and  the  result 
was  fatal.  Other  weak  points  in  the  defence  were 
divided  command  and  the  scarcity  of  food  and  am- 
munition, occasioned  largely  by  Bigot's  rapacious 
knavery. 

On  June  26  the  British  fleet  anchored  off  the  Isle 
of  Orleans,  thus  dissipating  the  fond  hopes  of  the 
French  that  some  disaster  might  prevent  its  ap- 
proach. Three  days  later  Wolfe's  men,  now  en- 
camped on  the  island  at  a  safe  distance  from  Mont- 
calm's guns,  made  an  easy  capture  of  Point  Levis, 
and  there  erected  batteries  which  commanded  the 
town.  British  ships  were,  in  consequence,  soon  able 
to  pass  Quebec,  under  cover  of  the  Point  Levis  guns, 
and  destroy  some  of  the  French  shipping  anchored 
in  the  upper  basin ;  while  landing  parties  harried  the 
country  to  the  west,  forcing  habitants  to  neutrality 
and  intercepting  supplies.  Frequently,  the  British 
forces  were,  upon  these  various  enterprises,  divided 
into  three  or  four  isolated  divisions,  which  might 
have  been  roughly  handled  by  a  venturesome  foe. 
But    Montcalm    rigidly    maintained    the    policy    of 


1759]  FALL    OF    QUEBEC  249 

defence,  his  only  offensive  operations  being  the 
unsuccessful  despatch  of  fire-ships  against  the  in- 
vading fleet. 

On  his  part,  Wolfe  made  several  futile  attacks 
upon  the  Beauport  redoubts.  The  position  was, 
however,  too  strong  for  him  to  master,  and  in  one 
assault  (July  31)  he  lost  half  of  his  landing  party — 
nearly  five  hundred  killed,  wounded,  and  missing.* 
This  continued  ill-success  fretted  Wolfe  and  at  last 
quite  disheartened  him,  for  the  season  was  rapidly 
wearing  on,  and  winter  sets  in  early  at  Quebec; 
moreover,  nothing  had  yet  been  heard  of  Amherst. 
There  was,  indeed,  some  talk  of  waiting  until  an- 
other season.  However,  more  and  more  British 
ships  worked  their  way  past  the  fort,  and,  by  making 
frequent  feints  of  landing  at  widely  separated 
points,  caused  Bougainville  great  annoyance.  Mont- 
calm was  accordingly  obliged  to  weaken  his  lower 
forces  by  sending  reinforcements  to  the  plains  west 
of  the  city.  Thus,  while  Wolfe  was  pining,  French 
uneasiness  was  growing,  for  the  British  were  now 
intercepting  supplies  and  reinforcements  from  both 
above  and  below,  and  Bougainville's  men  were 
growing  weary  of  constantly  patrolling  fifteen  or 
twenty  miles  of  cliffs.^ 

Meanwhile,  let  us  see  how  Amherst  was  faring. 

'Authorities  cited  in  Parkman,  Montcalm  and  Wolfe,  II., 
233,  234.  For  details,  consult  Doughty  and  Partnelee,  Siege 
of  Quebec,  II.,  chap.  vi. 

'  See  Bougainville's  correspondence,  in  Doughty  and  Parmelee, 
Siege  of  Quebec,  IV.,  1-141. 

VOL.    VII. — 18 


250  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1759 

At  the  end  of  June  the  general  assembled  five 
thousand  provincials  and  six  thousand  five  hun- 
dred regulars  at  the  head  of  Lake  George.  He  had 
previously  despatched  Brigadier  Prideaux  with  five 
thousand  regulars  and  provincials  to  reduce  Ni- 
agara, and  Brigadier  Stanwix,  who  had  been  of 
Bradstreet's  party  the  year  before,  to  succor  Pitts- 
burg, now  in  imminent  danger  from  French  bush- 
rangers and  Indians  who  were  swarming  at  Presqu'- 
isle,  Le  Boeuf,  and  Venango. 

Amherst  himself  moved  slowly,  it  being  July  21 
before  the  army  started  northward  upon  the  lake. 
Bourlamaque,  whose  sole  purpose  was  to  delay  the 
British  advance,  lay  at  Ticonderoga  with  three 
thousand  five  hundred  men,  but  on  the  26th  he 
blew  up  the  fort  and  retreated  in  good  order  to 
Crown  Point.  On  the  British  approaching  that 
post  he  again  fell  back,  this  time  to  a  strong  po- 
sition at  Isle  aux  Noix,  at  the  outlet  of  Lake 
Champlain,  where,  wrote  Bourlamaque  to  a  friend, 
"  we  are  entrenched  to  the  teeth,  and  armed  with 
a  hundred  pieces  of  cannon."  '  Amherst  now 
deeming  vessels  essential,  yet  lacking  ship -car- 
penters, it  was  the  middle  of  September  before  his 
little  navy  was  ready,  and  then  he  thought  the 
season   too   far   advanced   for   further   operations.^ 

*  September  22,  1759,  quoted  in  Parkman,  Montcalm  and 
Wolfe,  II.,  249. 

'  OfTicial  journal  of  Amherst,  in  London  Magazine,  XXVII., 
379-383- 


1759]  FALL    OF    QUEBEC  251 

Amherst's  advance  had,  however,  induced  Montcalm 
to  defend  Montreal,  Levis  having  been  despatched 
thither  for  this  purpose. 

Prideaux,  advancing  up  the  Mohawk,  proceeded 
to  Oswego,  where  he  left  half  of  his  men  to  cover 
his  retreat,  and  then  sailed  to  Niagara.  Slain  by- 
accident  during  the  siege,  his  place  was  taken  by- 
Sir  William  Johnson,  the  Indian  commander,  who 
pushed  the  work  with  vigor.  Suddenly  confronted 
by  a  French  force  of  thirteen  hundred  rangers  and 
savages  from  the  west,  who  had  been  deflected 
thither  from  a  proposed  attack  on  Pittsburg,  with 
the  view  of  recovering  that  fort,  Johnson  completely 
vanquished  them  (July  24).  The  discomfited  crsw 
burned  their  posts  in  that  region  and  retreated  pre- 
cipitately to  Detroit.  The  following  day  Niagara 
surrendered,  and  thus,  with  Pittsburg  also  saved, 
the  west  was  entirely  cut  off  from  Canada,  and  the 
upper  Ohio  Valley  was  placed  in  British  hands. 
The  work  of  Stanwix  having  been  accomplished  by 
Johnson,  the  former,  who  had  been  greatly  de- 
layed by  transport  difficulties,  advanced  as  prompt- 
ly as  possible  to  the  Forks  of  the  Ohio,  and  in  the 
place  of  the  old  French  works  built  the  modernized 
stronghold  of  Fort  Pitt. ' 

On  August  20,  Wolfe  fell  seriously  ill.  Both  he 
and  the  army  were  discouraged.  The  casualties 
had  thus  far  been  over  eight  hundred  men,  and  dis- 

•  Stanwix  to  Pitt,  November  20,  1759,  MS.  in  Public  Record 
Office. 


252  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1759 

ease  had  cut  a  wide  swath  through  the  ranks. 
Desperate,  he  at  last  accepted  the  counsel  of  his 
officers,  that  a  landing  be  attempted  above  the  town, 
supplies  definitively  cut  off  from  Montreal,  and 
Montcalm  forced  to  fight  or  surrender.  From 
September  3  to  12,  Wolfe,  arisen  from  his  bed  but 
still  weak,  quietly  withdrew  his  troops  from  the 
Montmorenci  camp  and  transported  them  in  vessels 
which  successfully  passed  through  a  heavy  can- 
nonading from  the  fort  to  safe  anchorage  in  the 
upper  basin.  Reinforcements  marching  along  the 
southern  bank,  from  Point  L6vis,  soon  joined  their 
comrades  aboard  the  ships.  For  several  days  this 
portion  of  the  fleet  regularly  floated  up  and  down 
the  river  above  Quebec,  with  the  changing  tide, 
thus  wearing  out  Bougainville's  men,  who  in 
great  perplexity  followed  the  enemy  along  the 
cliff -tops,  through  a  beat  of  several  leagues,  until 
from  sheer  exhaustion  they  at  last  became  care- 
less. 

On  the  evening  of  September  12,  Saunders — whose 
admirable  handling  of  the  fleet  deserves  equal  rec- 
ognition with  the  services  of  Wolfe  —  commenced 
a  heavy  bombardment  of  the  Beauport  lines,  and 
feigned  a  general  landing  at  that  place.  Montcalm, 
not  knowing  that  the  majority  of  the  British  were 
by  this  time  above  the  town,  and  deceived  as  to  his 
enemy's  real  intent,  hurried  to  Beauport  the  bulk  of 
his  troops,  save  those  necessary  for  Bougainville's 
rear  guard.     Meanwhile,  however,  Wolfe  was  pre- 


1759]  FALL    OF    QUEBEC  253 

paring  for  his  desperate  attempt  several  miles  up 
the  river. 

Before  daylight  the  following  morning  (Septem- 
ber 13),  thirty  boats  containing  seventeen  hundred 
picked  men,  with  ¥/olfe  at  their  head,  floated  down 
the  stream  under  the  dark  shadow  of  the  apparent- 
ly insurmountable  cliffs.  They  were  challenged  by 
sentinels  along  the  shore;  but,  by  pretending  to  be 
a  provision  convoy  which  had  been  expected  from 
up-country,  suspicion  was  disarmed.  About  two 
miles  above  Quebec  they  landed  at  an  indentation 
then  known  as  Anse  du  Foulon,  but  now  called 
Wolfe's  Cove.  From  the  narrow  beach  a  small, 
winding  path,  sighted  by  Wolfe  two  days  before, 
led  up  through  the  trees  and  underbrush  to  the 
Plains  of  Abraham.  The  climbing  party  of  twenty- 
four  infantrymen  found  the  path  obstructed  by  an 
abattis  and  trenches;  but,  nothing  daunted,  they 
clambered  up  the  height  of  two  hundred  feet  by 
the  aid  of  stunted  shrubs,  reached  the  top,  over- 
came the  weak  and  cowardly  guard  of  a  hundred 
men,  made  way  for  their  comrades,  and  by  sunrise 
forty-five  hundred  men  of  the  British  army  were 
drawn  up  across  the  plateau  before  the  walls  of 
Quebec. 

Montcalm,  ten  miles  away  on  the  other  side  of  the 
St.  Charles,  was  amazed  at  the  daring  feat,  but  by 
nine  o'clock  had  massed  his  troops  and  confronted 
his  enemy.  The  battle  was  brief  but  desperate. 
The   intrepid   Wolfe   fell   on   the   field — "the   only 


2  54  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1759 

British  general,"  declared  Horace  Walpole,  "be- 
longing to  the  reign  of  George  the  Second,  who  can 
be  said  to  have  earned  a  lasting  reputation."* 
Montcalm,  mortally  wounded,  was  carried  by  his 
fleeing  comrades  within  the  city,  where  he  died 
before  morning.  During  the  seven  hours'  battle, 
the  British  had  lost  fifty-eight  killed  and  five  hun- 
dred and  ninety-seven  wounded,  about  twenty  per 
cent,  of  the  firing-line;  the  French  lost  about  twelve 
hundred  killed,  wounded,  and  prisoners,  of  whom 
perhaps  a  fourth  were  killed.^ 

Tom  by  disorder,  the  militia  mutinous,  the  walls 
in  ruins  from  the  cannonading  of  the  British  fleet, 
and  Vaudreuil  and  his  fellows  fleeing  to  the  in- 
terior, the  helpless  garrison  of  Quebec  surrendered, 
September  17,  the  British  troops  entering  the 
following  day.  The  English  flag  now  floated  over 
the  citadel,  and  soon  there  was  great  rejoicing 
throughout  Great  Britain  and  her  American  colonies ; 
and  well  there  might  be,  for  the  affair  on  the  Plains 
of  Abraham  was  one  of  the  most  heroic  and  far- 
reaching  achievements  ever  wrought  by  Englishmen 
in  any  land  or  age.' 

'  Doughty  and  Parmelee,  Siege  of  Quebec,  II.,  237. 

^  Ibid.,  II.,  332,  with  detailed  British  returns;  Wood,  Fight  for 
Canada,  262. 

^  For  detailed  description  of  the  siege,  consult  Doughty  and 
Parmelee,  Siege  of  Quebec,  II.,  III.,  and  documents  in  IV. -VI. 


CHAPTER    XVI 

CONQUEST    APPROACHING 
(1759-1760) 

SOON  after  the  surrender  of  Quebec,  Brigadier 
Monckton,  disabled  by  a  wound,  was  ordered 
to  the  south  for  his  health,  leaving  Townsend  in 
charge.  For  a  time  Bougainville  gave  the  latter 
some  trouble,  but  soon  was  silenced.  Late  in 
October,  Saunders  set  sail  with  the  fleet,  carrying 
Townsend  with  him  to  England,  whom  his  enemies 
accused  of  hurrying  unduly  to  gain  applause  at 
home.*  Murray  was  thereupon  left  in  command, 
with  a  few  more  than  seven  thousand  British  troops, 
to  face  the  rigors  of  a  Canadian  winter,  which 
proved  one  of  the  severest  on  record. 

Such  of  the  Canadian  militia  as  gave  up  their 
arms  and  took  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  British 
king  were  allowed  to  return  to  their  homes,  an 
arrangement  which  affected  nearly  all  of  the  habi- 
tants below  Three  Rivers.  Indeed,  all  but  three 
thousand  of  the  citizens  of  Quebec  had  scattered 
to  various  parts  of  the  country.  Both  the  walls 
and  buildings   of  Upper  Town  were  for  the  most 

*  Parkman,  Montcalm  and  Wolfe,  II.,  317. 
255 


256  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1760 

part  in  ruins,  thievery  was  rampant,  disorder  pre- 
vailed on  every  hand,  and  the  general  demoraliza- 
tion was  heightened  by  a  shortage  of  provisions,  for 
the  country  round  about  had  been  denuded  of 
subsistence  material.  Wood-cutting  was  a  pressing 
necessity,  the  supply  coming  from  the  forest  of 
Ste.  Foy,  four  miles  away,  whence  the  soldiers 
hauled  the  loaded  sleighs,  for  no  horses  were  to  be 
had.  The  troops  suffered  greatly  from  insufficiency 
of  clothing,  lack  of  proper  quarters,  and  unwonted 
exposure  to  arctic  conditions ;  frost-bites  were  com- 
mon, and  the  unsanitary  conditions,  combined  with 
the  almost  exclusive  use  of  salt  meats,  induced 
scurvy,  dysentery,  and  fevers,  which  frequently  re- 
sulted in  death.  By  the  last  week  of  April,  1760, 
no  more  than  three  thousand  of  Murray's  men  were 
fit  for  duty.  Of  the  dead  there  were  six  hundred 
and  fifty,  most  of  the  bodies  having  been  preserved 
in  snow-banks,  awaiting  burial  after  the  spring 
thaw.*  Yet  it  has  been  asserted  that  of  the  six  hun- 
dred women  attached  to  the  British  garrison  during 
this  frightful  experience  not  one  had  died  and  but 
few  were  ill.^ 

Conditions  might  doubtless  have  been  softened 
had  Murray  been  provided  with  adequate  funds  for 
the  purchase  of  supplies  from  the  habitants  in  the 
interior,  many  of  whom  were  disposed  to  be  politic 

•Public  Record  Office  MSS.,  Return  of  tlie  Forces,  April  24, 
1760;  Kingsford,  Canada,  IV.,  362. 
*  Bradley,  Fight  with  France,  360. 


CHI 


1760]  CONQUEST    APPROACHING  257 

towards  the  invaders.  But  after  October  24  there 
was  no  money  even  to  pay  the  troops,  the  incom- 
petent secretary  of  state  for  war,  Lord  Barrington, 
having  shamefully  neglected  to  supply  the  military 
chest  in  Canada,  which  was  Hterally  empty  through 
the  entire  winter.^ 

Meanwhile,  Levis,  who  had  succeeded  Montcalm, 
was  busy  in  the  rear,  towards  Montreal,  where 
Vaudreuil  commanded  in  person;  and  alarming  re- 
ports of  extensive  preparations  for  attack  were 
frequent  in  Quebec.  Murray  maintained  outposts 
at  Ste.  Foy  and  Old  Lorette,  and  these  were  fre- 
quently threatened  by  prowling  Canadian  rangers, 
who  passed  much  of  the  winter  at  St.  Augustine, 
but  two  days'  march  from  the  city.  In  the  last 
week  of  April,  L6vis  appeared  before  the  British 
outposts  with  eleven  thousand  men,  mostly  regu- 
lars, although  with  them  were  many  of  the  habitants 
who  had  viewed  their  oath  too  lightly,  and  Mur- 
ray drew  back  to  Quebec,  But  on  the  morning  of 
April  28,  having  a  good  train  of  artillery,  he  sal- 
lied forth  with  three  thousand  men  to  meet  the 
enemy  on  the  Plains  of  Abraham.^  The  lines  of 
battle  were  strikingly  similar  to  those  maintained 
on  the  previous  September  18,  save  that  the  re- 
spective positions  w^ere  reversed. 

The  ground  was  covered  with  drifts  of  sodden 

'  Kingsford,  Canada,  IV.,  361,  362. 

*  Wood,  Fight  for  Canada,  337;  Parkman,  Montcalm  and 
Wolfe,  II.,  442-444;  Kingsford,  Canada,  IV.,  369. 


258  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1760 

snow,  which  soon  was  trampled  to  liquid  mud,  well- 
nigh  knee-deep.  The  young  and  impetuous  Murray 
had  been  over-confident,  both  he  and  his  men  hav- 
ing under  -  estimated  the  fighting  capacity  of  the 
French;  they  were  fairly  worsted  after  a  two  hours' 
fight,  and  obliged  to  leave  their  guns  on  the  field, 
but  their  retreat  to  the  city  was  orderly.  The 
British  loss  was  eleven  hundred  and  twenty-four 
killed  and  wounded,  a  third  of  the  force  engaged, 
while  the  French  are  supposed  to  have  lost  two 
thousand.* 

For  nearly  a  fortnight  the  situation  looked  des- 
perate to  Murray.  Half  of  his  twenty-four  hun- 
dred men  reported  fit  for  duty  were  in  wretched 
condition,  being,  as  one  of  them  wrote,  "half- 
starved,  scorbutic  skeletons."  ^  But  their  lesson 
had  been  learned,  and  they  now  set  to  work  with 
feverish  activity  to  repair  the  defences.  In  the 
face  of  this  determined  attitude  Levis  did  not,  de- 
spite his  superior  forces,  push  the  attack,  and  in 
his  hesitation  waited  too  long.  Between  May  9 
and  16  three  frigates  arrived  from  England,  which 
brought  not  only  blessed  relief  to  the  hollow-eyed 
garrison,  but  destroyed  L6 vis's  ships  in  the  river 
and  their  cargoes  of  military  stores.  On  the 
latter  day,  being  vigorously  attacked  by  Murray 
and  the  entire  strength  of  the  garrison  batteries, 
the   French    precipitately   retreated,   leaving   forty 

*  Kingsford,  Canada,  IV.,  368-371. 

*  Parkman,  AJontcalm  and  Wolfe,  II,,  352. 


1760]  CONQUEST    APPROACHING  259 

guns,  much  siege  material,  and  all  their  sick  and 
wounded/ 

The  retreat  of  Levis  towards  Montreal,  and  the 
destruction  of  his  ships  and  stores,  together  with 
the  burning  of  a  flotilla  of  twenty-five  other  French 
vessels  with  their  cargoes  of  supplies  upon  the 
Restigouche,  in  July,^  left  New  France  with  no  out- 
let to  the  sea.  It  was  a  mere  question  of  time 
when  her  lingering  defence  could  be  cornered  and 
strangled,  and  yet  there  was  danger  in  bringing  her 
to  bay.  Montreal  was  now  her  only  stronghold, 
and  upon  this  point  Amherst,  with  admirable  cau- 
tion, proceeded  to  concentrate  his  attack.  He  him- 
self was  to  proceed  down  the  St.  Lawrence  from 
Lake  Ontario  and  cut  off  the  French  retreat  west- 
ward; Brigadier  Haviland  was  to  push  his  way 
through  from  Lake  Champlain ;  and  Murray  was  to 
sail  up  from  Quebec — all  three  expeditions  to  unite 
at  Montreal  and  force  a  general  surrender. 

The  task  was  not  as  simple  as  appears  on  the 
map;  for  there  were  formidable  rapids  for  Amherst 
and  Haviland  to  encotmter  in  the  St.  Lawrence, 
several  French  forts  to  overcome  upon  the  way, 
and  the  three  points  of  departure  were  widely  sepa- 
rated, with  but  slight  communication  between  them. 
Moreover,  there  was  the  customary  vexatious  delay 
on  the  part  of  the  provincial  governments,  which 
had  promised  militia  quotas.     It  required  a  large 

>  List  of  authorities,  in  Parkman,  Montcalm  and  Wolfe,  358. 
^  Wood,  Fight  for  Canada,  299. 


26o  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1760 

fund  of  patience  on  the  part  of  Amherst,  and  much 
delicate  management,  to  bring  it  all  about.  A  mis- 
step might  readily  prevent  the  desired  conjunc- 
tion, and  then  L6vis  would  have  had  a  fair  chance 
to  annihilate  each  column  in  turn. 

Murray  moved  first.  July  15  his  little  army  of 
two  thousand  four  himdred  and  fifty  men  embarked 
in  forty  boats,  bateaux,  and  other  transports,  es- 
corted by  three  frigates  and  a  numerous  flotilla  of 
smaller  craft,*  followed  a  little  later  by  one  thou- 
sand three  himdred  men  from  the  now  dismantled 
fortress  of  Louisburg,  under  Lord  Rollo.  With  a 
keen  watch  of  scouting  parties  ranging  the  banks, 
and  disarming  the  habitants  as  he  went  along,  Mur- 
ray's progress  was  slow.  At  Sorel,  east  of  Montreal, 
Bourlamaque  and  Dumas  lay  intrenched  on  both 
banks  with  a  force  of  four  thousand,  but  offered  no 
resistance.  Judiciously  displaying  harshness  tow- 
ards enemies,  but  kindness  towards  non-combatants, 
Murray  persuaded  half  of  their  men  to  disarm  and 
take  the  oath  of  neutrality,  the  others  following  the 
fleet  along  the  shore,  hoping  that  when  Montreal 
was  reached  the  British  would  find  themselves  em- 
barrassed between  two  fires.  August  24  he  arrived 
at  Contrecoeur,  eighteen  miles  below  Montreal,  and 
went  into  camp  to  await  his  colleagues,  who  were 
not  long  in  arriving  at  the  island. 

Haviland,    whose    troops    had    suffered    greatly 

'Clowes,  Royal  Navy,  III.,  227,  228;  Knox,  Campaigns  in 
North  America,  II.,  344,  348. 


1760]  CONQUEST  APPROACHING  261 

throughout  the  winter  from  cold,  disease,  and  an 
insufficient  commissariat,  left  Crown  Point  on  Au- 
gust 16  with  a  force  of  about  three  thousand  four 
hundred  men — regulars,  provincials,  and  Indians.* 
Bougainville  was  in  strong  position  at  Isle  aux 
Noix,  with  nearly  as  many  men  as  Haviland;  but 
on  a  show  of  force  withdrew,  and  many  of  his 
discouraged  rangers  soon  deserted  him.  Forts  St. 
John  and  Chambly  were  also  abandoned  as  the 
British  advanced  both  by  land  and  water,  and 
Haviland,  on  September  6,  joined  Amherst  on  the 
island  of  Montreal. 

It  was  August  10  before  Amherst,  delayed  by  the 
co-operating  militia,  could  get  his  little  army  afloat 
at  Oswego.  It  consisted  of  about  eleven  thousand 
men,  of  w^hom  less  than  six  thousand  were  regu- 
lars, four  thousand  five  hundred  provincials,  and 
seven  hundred  Indians  under  Sir  William  Johnson.^ 
The  flotilla  of  nearly  eight  hundred  whale-boats  and 
bateaux  were  escorted  by  several  gun-boats.  Fort 
La  Galette  (now  Ogdensburg),  at  the  head  of  the 
St,  Lawrence  rapids,  was  passed  five  days  later,  a 
French  brig  of  ten  guns  being  captured  by  the  gun- 
boats. A  little  below,  on  an  island  in  the  rapids. 
Fort  Levis,  with  a  garrison  of  three  hundred,  stood 
a  siege  of  three  days  before  it  surrendered.     But 

*  Fortescue,  British  Army,  397;  Parkman,  Montcalm  and 
Wolfe,  II.,  367;  Kingsford,  Canada,  IV.,  396. 

2  Fortescue,  British  Army,  399;  Kingsford,  Canada,  IV., 
381-393- 


262  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1760 

the  most  dangerous  experience  was  the  descent  of 
the  rapids,  an  undertaking  involving  great  care  and 
bravery;  as  it  was,  sixty  boats  were  wrecked  or 
damaged  and  eighty-four  men  drowned.  On  Sep- 
tember 6,  the  very  day  of  Haviland's  arrival — so 
carefully  timed  had  been  the  concentrating  move- 
ments of  the  British — the  fleet  glided  triumphantly 
to  the  shore  of  Lachine,  at  the  head  of  the  great 
rapids,  nine  miles  above  Montreal.  The  troops 
marched  unopposed  to  a  camp  outside  the  western 
gate  of  the  shabby  little  town,  whose  ill-constructed 
stone  walls  were  proof  against  Indians,  but  pre- 
sented a  sorry  defence  to  the  attack  of  civilized 
soldiers  with  artillery. 

Vaudreuil,  Bougainville,  Bourlamaque,  and  Roque- 
maure  —  the  last-named  the  commander  of  Fort 
St.  John — were  now  confronted  by  seventeen  thou- 
sand British,  well  supplied  with  cannon  and  stores; 
while  they  could  muster  behind  their  weak  fortifi- 
cations barely  two  thousand  five  hundred — prac- 
tically all  of  them  regulars,  for  the  militia  had 
deserted,  but  "demoralized  in  order,  in  spirit,  and 
in  discipline."^  There  were  provisions  for  but  fif- 
teen to  twenty  days,^  the  Indians  had  character- 
istically gone  over  to  the  stronger  side,  the  Cana- 
dians were  disheartened  and  now  for  the  most 
part  disarmed  and  sworn  to  neutrality,  and  fur- 
ther struggle  seemed  useless. 

September   7,  Bougainville   waited    on    Amherst 

'  Fortescue,  British  Army,  399.  '  Levis,  Journal,  303. 


1761]  CONQUEST    APPROACHING  26 


v3 


with  an  offer  of  capitulation,  demanding  only  that 
the  garrison  be  allowed  to  march  out  with  the 
honors  of  war.  But  the  British  general,  charging 
the  French  with  inhumanity  and  particularly  with 
inciting  the  Indians  against  English  borderers,  per- 
emptorily refused  this  concession,  demanding  that 
"The  whole  garrison  of  Montreal  and  all  other 
French  troops  in  Canada  must  lay  down  their  arms, 
and  shall  not  serve  during  the  present  war."  ^  Next 
day,  despite  hot  protests  from  the  indomitable 
Levis,  who  wanted  to  fight  to  the  last  ditch,  the 
articles  were  signed  as  dictated  by  Amherst.^  Thus 
all  of  the  vast  domain  of  New  France,  with  its  popula- 
tion of  about  seventy-three  thousand  souls — allow- 
ing fifty-seven  thousand  to  Canada,  ten  thousand 
to  Acadia,  and  six  thousand  to  Detroit  and  the  Illi- 
nois, but  excluding  some  ten  thousand  in  the 
province  of  Louisiana  proper  ^ — passed  into  the  con- 
trol of  Great  Britain.  Robert  Rogers,  prominent 
throughout  the  war  as  a  daring  and  successful 
leader  of  provincial  rangers,  was  sent  up  the  Great 
Lakes  to  enforce  the  capitulation  at  the  French  out- 
posts in  the  west;  and  during  the  winter  and  the 
following  year  secured  the  transfer  of  forts  Miami, 
Detroit,  Mackinac,  and  St.  Joseph. 

'  Procks  verbal,  quoted  in  Parkman ,  Montcalm  and  Wolfe,  1 1 . ,  3  73 . 

'  Ibid.,  375;  French  text  in  Kingsford,  Canada,  IV.,  417-433; 
no  English  original  was  made. 

'  Kingsford,  Canada,  IV.,  413;  Coffin,  Province  of  Quebec,  280; 
Com.  of  Canadian  Archives,  Report,  1890,  p.  109;  Hinsdale, 
Old  Northwest,  48. 


264  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1760 

In  accordance  with  the  terms  of  the  treaty, 
the  prisoners  of  war,  the  chief  civil  officers  of  New 
France,  a  great  part  of  the  Canadian  noblesse,  and 
the  leading  merchants  departed  (September  13-22) 
for  Quebec,  whence  a  month  later  they  left  for 
France.  Upon  reaching  Paris,  Vaudreuil,  Bigot, 
and  their  rascally  confederates  were  imprisoned  in 
the  Bastile  for  fraud  and  malfeasance  in  office. 
When  brought  to  trial  in  December,  1761,  they  made 
a  sorry  spectacle  before  the  court,  with  their  mutual 
criminations.  Vaudreuil  was  acquitted  for  lack  of 
legal  proof;  Bigot  was  fined  one  million  five  hun- 
dred thousand  francs,  his  property  confiscated,  and 
he  was  banished  from  France  for  life;  others,  a 
score  in  number,  received  various  sentences,  their 
dishonesty  in  the  end  profiting  them  but  sHghtly.' 

The  Canadian  peasantry,  and  such  of  the  regulars 
as  chose  Canada  for  their  home,  settled  down  under 
their  new  political  masters,  and  in  time  became 
happier  and  more  prosperous  under  the  new  flag 
than  they  had  ever  been  under  the  old.  Amherst 
had  detailed  General  Gage  to  be  governor  of  Mon- 
treal, General  Ralph  Burton  was  made  governor  of 
Three  Rivers,  and  Murray  continued  in  charge  of 
Quebec.  To  them  was  left  the  administration  of  a 
policy  of  kindliness  to  the  unfortunate  habitants,  who 
were  protected  against  the  Indian  allies  of  the  con- 
querors, allowed  to  conduct  their  own  affairs  with  the 
least  possible  interference,  and  accorded  a  considera- 

'  Parkman,  Montcalm  and  Wolfe,  II.,  385. 


1760]  CONQUEST   APPROACHING  265 

tion  in  political  affairs  which  they  had  not  before 
experienced. 

Within  a  month  Amherst  reported  to  Pitt  that 
the  soldiers  and  Canadians  were  fraternizing.^  The 
general's  quiet  perseverance  and  industry  had  over- 
come formidable  difficulties  in  the  final  campaign, 
and  he  was  now  equally  strong  in  directing  the  re- 
organization of  society  in  its  shattered  state.  An 
eminent  military  critic  has  truthfully  declared  that 
"  he  was  the  greatest  military  administrator  pro- 
duced by  England  since  the  death  of  Marlborough, 
and  remained  the  greatest  until  the  rise  of  Well- 
ington." ^ 

'Amherst  to  Pitt,  October  18,  1760,  MSS.  in  British  Public 
Record  Office;  for  details  of  the  new  regime,  see  Kingsford, 
Canada,  IV.,  440-466. 

^  Fortescue,  British  Army,  405. 

VOL.    VII. — 19 


CHAPTER    XVII 

THE    TREATY    OF    PARIS 
(1760-1763) 

THE  war  for  British  supremacy  in  North  America 
was  at  last  practically  over.  The  intermittent 
struggle  between  France  and  England,  which  in 
India  had  lasted  for  fifteen  years,  was  in  1760 
rapidly  drawing  to  a  close,  as  garrison  after  garrison 
of  the  French  throughout  that  great  peninsula  was 
being  reduced.  On  the  European  continent  the 
coils  were  gradually  tightening  around  France.  At 
the  close  of  the  military  season  of  1760,  perhaps  the 
most  triumphant  year  thus  far  known  to  British 
arms,  George  II.  passed  away  (October  20).  With 
the  accession  of  George  III.,  who  was  bent  on  peace 
almost  at  any  price,  the  official  influence  of  the 
pugnacious  Pitt  began  to  wane,  and  indeed  did  not 
last  a  twelvemonth ;  although  the  confidence  placed 
in  "the  people's  minister"  by  Englishmen  at  large 
was  unimpaired.  Newcastle's  power  was  still  pre- 
dominant in  the  cabinet;  but  the  man  of  the  hour, 
destined  soon  to  succeed  the  foremost  statesman 
of  his  time,  was  the  Earl  of  Bute,  a  weak,  common- 
place person,  who,  through  the  favor  of  the  princess 

266 


i76i]  TREATY    OF    PARIS  267 

royal,  chanced  to  enjoy  the  confidence  of  the  king's 
household. 

In  the  spring  of  1761,  Pitt  was  approached  by 
France  with  proposals  of  peace,  and  negotiations 
looking  thereto  were  in  progress  during  the  summer. 
But  on  August  15  there  had  secretly  been  signed  a 
Family  Compact  between  the  Bourbon  kings  of 
France  and  Spain,  whereby  they  mutually  declared 
that  the  enemy  of  the  one  was  the  enemy  of  the 
other:  not  in  so  many  words  an  alliance  against 
England,  but  obviously  looking  to  that  end.* 

The  navy  of  France  had  been  utterly  ruined,  and 
the  Spanish  fleet  numbered  only  fifty  inferior  and 
poorly  equipped  vessels ;  while  England  now  had  in 
commission,  not  counting  her  reserves,  one  hundred 
and  twenty  ships  of  the  line,  manned  by  seventy 
thousand  seamen  well  seasoned  in  the  art  of  war.^ 
Of  the  few  naval  craft  that  left  the  ports  of  France 
in  1 761  nearly  all  were  captured,  an  experience  to 
be  repeated  the  following  year.  Her  resources  were 
exhausted,  from  a  maritime  point  of  view;  and  with 
sea  power  gone  her  colonies  could,  of  course,  no 
longer  be  held.  There  would  seem  to  have  been 
small  reason,  therefore,  in  Spain's  seeking  a  part- 
nership with  so  weak  a  neighbor. 

Nevertheless,  Charles  III.,  aside  from  sentiment  in 
behalf  of  his  "  brother  and  cousin,"  Louis  XV., viewed 
Great   Britain's   colonial   growth  with   alarm,   and 

'Text  in  Cantillo,  Tratados  de  pas,  etc.,  468. 
^  Mahan,  Influence  of  Sea  Power,  312. 


268  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [lybw 

believed  that  Spain's  over-sea  dominions  would 
suffer  so  soon  as  France  had  been  driven  from 
North  America.  Moreover,  he  had  many  specific 
complaints  of  his  own;  for  Great  Britain,  in  vigor- 
ously searching  for  enemy's  property  on  neutral 
ships,  had  not  respected  the  Spanish,  nor  indeed 
any  other  neutral  flag.  During  1758  "not  less  than 
176  neutral  vessels,  laden  with  the  rich  produce  of 
the  French  colonies,  or  with  military  and  naval 
stores,  to  enable  them  to  continue  the  war,  rewarded 
the  vigilance  of  the  British  Navy."^  The  British 
held  that  contraband  of  war  might  freely  be  sought 
in  neutral  bottoms,  and  that  her  paper  blockade  of 
French  ports  was  to  be  respected  by  all.  This  at- 
titude was  cause  sufficient  for  the  growing  unpop- 
ularity of  England  on  the  continent. 

Pitt  was  not  long  in  discovering  the  existence  of 
the  Family  Compact.  Indignantly  breaking  off 
communications  with  France,  he  proposed  at  once 
to  declare  war  against  Spain,  hoping  to  gain  ad- 
vantage from  the  latter 's  unprepared  condition. 
But  under  Bute's  lead  the  king  and  the  cabinet 
refused  to  follow  him  in  this  extreme  measure,  and 
the  great  commoner  therefore  resigned,  October  5, 
1 761,  declaring  that  "  he  would  not  continue  without 
having  the  direction."* 

After  three  months,  Spain  thought  herself  strong 
enough  to  carry  a  high  hand,  and  became  so  insolent 

'  Campbell,  Lives  of  British  Admirals,  V.,  70. 
^  Green,  William  Pitt,   185. 


XOKTH    AMERICA 

As  Adjusted  by  the  Peace 
of  1763 

I  I  French  Possessions 

I  I  Spanish         " 

I  I  English  »' 


— x— K-  Proclamation  Line,  1763 
"- Mason  it-  Dixon's  Line 


ELlif^ 


<^ 


1762]  TREATY    OF    PARIS  269 

in  her  presentation  of  claims  that  even  Bute  himself 
felt  obliged  to  declare  war,  January  4,  1762.  Fort- 
tmately  for  the  government,  Pitt's  preparations  had 
been  well  forwarded  before  his  retirement,  and  his 
plans  were  substantially  carried  out. 

The  army  now  contained  two  hundred  and  fif- 
teen thousand  men,  of  whom  sixty-five  thousand 
were  German  mercenaries.*  The  day  following 
the  declaration  against  Spain,  an  event  not  yet 
heralded  in  the  New  World,  Monckton  sailed  from 
Barbadoes  with  fourteen  thousand  troops  gathered 
from  England,  Canada,  and  the  British  West  Indian 
islands,  and  on  February  12  reduced  Martinique, 
the  centre  of  French  privateering :  thereby  breaking 
up  a  nest  of  marauders  who  during  the  war  had 
captured  one  thousand  four  hundred  English  mer- 
chantmen in  that  quarter  of  the  globe.  Grenada, 
St.  Lucia,  and  St.  Vincent  followed  (February  26- 
March  3),  thus  giving  England  control  of  the  Wind- 
ward Islands.  By  this  time  there  had  arrived  ad- 
vices from  London  relative  to  the  new  Bourbon 
foe.  Lord  Albemarle  promptly  conducted  fifteen 
thousand  five  hundred  men,  convoyed  by  Admiral 
Sir  George  Pocock,  against  the  Spanish  stronghold 
of  Havana,  which  surrendered  on  August  13,  with 
twelve  ships  of  the  line,  stores,  specie,  and  mis- 
cellaneous valuables,  all  aggregating  a  value  of 
$15,000,000.  But  the  campaign  for  the  capture  of 
Cuba  and  the  control  of  the  gulf  was  accompanied 

^  Fortescue,  British  Army,  536,  537. 


270  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1762 

by  frightful  losses  to  the  British — one  thousand 
in  killed  and  wounded,  and  five  thousand  deaths 
from  illness,  for  the  plague  had  broken  out  in  the 
army.  Because  of  this  havoc  in  the  ranks,  a  con- 
templated attack  on  the  French  in  Louisiana  was 
countermanded.  ^ 

Meanwhile,  the  French,  taking  advantage  of  the 
withdrawal  of  British  troops  from  Canada,  sent  out 
from  Brest  a  small  squadron  against  Newfound- 
land, which  was  surrendered  by  a  still  weaker  gar- 
rison on  June  27  ;  the  island  was,  however,  retaken 
by  the  British  on  September  18.^  The  allies  had 
sought  to  coerce  Portugal  into  joining  them,  but  an 
English  fleet  and  army  drove  them  back  into  Spain. ^ 
In  the  first  week  of  October  the  Philippine  Islands 
were  surrendered  to  an  expedition  which  sailed  from 
Calcutta  on  September  i  and  easily  captured  Manila 
and  the  island  of  Luzon.  A  ransom  of  $4,000,000 
was  promised  by  the  Spanish  for  the  return  of 
the  archipelago;  but  as  the  indemnity  was  not 
mentioned  in  the  subsequent  treaty  of  Paris,  it  was 
never  paid.'*  At  the  same  time  English  vessels 
captured  several  heavily  laden  Spanish  treasure 
ships  bound  from  the  Philippines  to  Mexico  and 
Peru.  The  loss  of  Manila  meant  the  cutting  off 
of  Spain  from  Asia,  and  the  fall  of  Havana  severed 

*  Fortescue,  British  Army,  536-544;  Clowes,  Royal  Navy,  III., 
242—250. 

^  Kingsford,  Canada,  IV.,  493-495;  Clowes,  Royal  Navy,  III., 
250,  251.  ^  Mahan,  Influence  of  Sea  Power,  315,  316. 

*  Ibid.,  316,  498;  Fortescue,  British  Army,  545. 


1762]  TREATY    OF    PARIS  271 

her  in  large  measure  from  America.  Plucked  at 
every  turn,  and  no  longer  able  to  communicate  with 
her  most  important  colonies  over-seas,  the  govern- 
ment at  Madrid  soon  wearied  of  the  Family  Com- 
pact. On  the  continent,  England's  friend,  Frederick 
the  Great  of  Prussia,  had  at  last  surmoiinted  his 
foes,  and  with  the  fall  of  Cassel  (November  i)  the 
war  ended. 

Both  France  and  Spain  suffered  at  the  hands  of  the 
omnipresent  "tyrants  of  the  seas"  enormous  losses 
and  hardships  in  all  parts  of  the  world.  The  former 
no  longer  possessed  a  single  man-of-war.  Her  sailors, 
turned  privateersmen,  had  in  1761  captured  eight 
hundred  and  twelve  of  the  enemy's  merchantmen; 
but  there  were  still  eight  thousand  British  sail  dot- 
ting the  seas  of  the  world,  for  owing  to  her  naval 
supremacy  the  ocean-borne  commerce  of  the  island 
had  grown  rapidly  throughout  the  war.  In  British 
jails  were  twenty-five  thousand  French  prisoners  of 
war,  against  twelve  hundred  Britons  in  the  prisons 
of  France.^  The  continental  allies  were  far  out- 
classed. 

On  November  3,  1762,  the  preliminaries  of  peace 
were  signed  at  Fontainebleau.^  Had  Pitt's  plans 
been  carried  out  to  the  full,  and  the  management  of 
British  interests  at  the  convention  been  in  his  hands, 
there  is  no  room  to  doubt  that  they  would  have 

*Mahan,  Influence  of  Sea  Power,  317-319. 
^  Text  in  Gentleman's  Magazine,  XXXII.,  569-573;  American 
History  Leaflets,  No.  5. 


272  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1762 

been  more  carefully  conserved.  Bute  and  the  king 
exhibited  undue  haste  at  peace-making.  To  this 
spirit  of  complacency  was  attributable  the  sur- 
render to  the  French  of  Goree,  Guadeloupe,  and 
Martinique;  also  the  grant  to  them  of  fish-dr^dng 
rights  on  the  west  and  north  shores  of  Newfound- 
land, as  under  the  treaty  of  Utrecht  (17 13),  and 
the  setting  apart  of  the  islands  of  St.  Pierre  and 
Miquelon  "to  serve  as  a  shelter  for  the  French 
fishermen" — although  French  fishers  must  not  ap- 
proach within  fifteen  leagues  of  the  island  of  Cape 
Breton  or  other  English  coasts. 

During  the  peace  negotiations,  in  the  summer  of 
1762,  the  question  was  raised  among  the  repre- 
sentatives of  England  whether  it  were  worth  while 
to  hold  New  France,  some  contending  that  it  would 
be  more  profitable  to  retain  instead  the  sugar- 
producing  island  of  Guadeloupe.  Canada,  it  was 
argued,  was  valuable  only  for  its  fur  trade;  were  it 
to  remain  in  the  possession  of  France,  the  English 
continental  colonies,  hemmed  in  to  the  Atlantic  slope, 
would  have  a  standing  menace  at  their  back  door, 
admonishing  them  to  remain  dependent  on  Great 
Britain.  England  was  plainly  warned  by  foreign 
statesmen,  who  had  watched  the  growing  spirit  of 
independence  in  America,  that  she  would  lose  her 
colonies  "the  moment  Canada  should  be  ceded." 
Franklin's  statement,  however,  that  the  colonies 
were  so  jealous  of  one  another  that  there  was  "not 
any   danger    of    their    uniting    against    their   own 


1762]  TREATY    OF    PARIS  273 

nation";  and  his  demand  that  the  settlers  be  re- 
lieved from  the  grievous  necessity  of  constantly  de- 
fending their  long  frontier  from  French  and  Indian 
forays,  at  last  induced  the  commissioners  to  require 
the  cession  of  New  France.^ 

The  manner  of  determining  the  boundary  of  New- 
France  is  an  interesting  study. ^  Spain  had  at  first 
bitterly  opposed  any  terms  by  which  the  English 
might  gain  a  main-land  footing  on  the  Gulf  of  Mexico, 
which  she  had  long  regarded  as  her  own  waters.  But 
with  the  humiliating  fall  of  Havana,  in  August, 
Charles  could  only  regain  Cuba  by  surrendering 
either  Porto  Rico  or  Florida — the  latter  his  main- 
land holding  from  Mississippi  eastward  to  the  sea. 
Florida  was  of  less  importance  to  Spain  than  Cuba, 
but  Charles's  ministers  chafed  at  the  thought  of 
handing  to  the  English  one  of  the  principal  keys 
to  the  gulf.  France  had  already  agreed  to  cede  to 
England  all  of  Louisiana  east  of  the  Mississippi; 
she  now,  with  a  show  of  consideration  for  her  ally, 
offered  to  the  victor  the  portion  of  the  province 
lying  west  of  that  river — the  region  later  comprised 
in  the  Louisiana  Purchase  of  1803 — if  Florida  might 
be  saved  to  her  Bourbon  cousin.  But  England 
promptly  declined,  preferring  Florida.^  France, 
however,  was  secretly  tired  of  her  colony,  which  she 
had  long  neglected,  and  which  cost  her  "eight  hun- 

*  Parkman,  Montcalm  and  Wolfe,  II.,  403. 
2  Developed  in  Shepherd,  "Cession  of  Louisiana  to  Spain,"  in 
Polit.  Set.  Quarterly,  XIX.,  439-458.  ^  Ibid.,  448,  449. 


274  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1763 

dred  thousand  livres  a  year,  without  yielding  a  sou 
in  return,"  and  now,  with  an  amusing  air  of  mag- 
nanimity, proposed  to  turn  it  over  to  Spain.*  But 
the  latter  claimed  the  territory  as  her  own,  on  the 
ground  of  prior  discovery,  French  occupation  having 
only  been  "tolerated  by  Spain,"  and  was  not  at 
first  disposed  to  accept  it  back  again  as  a  gift — ■ 
indeed,  she  plainly  showed  that  she  did  not  care  for 
this  vast  and  untamed  wilderness. 

In  his  generosity,  however,  Louis  XV.  overlooked 
this  reluctance,  and  on  the  very  day  (November  3) 
when  the  preliminary  articles  with  England  were 
signed,  in  a  personal  letter  solemnly  conveyed 
Louisiana  to  the  court  of  Spain,  as  a  partial  recom- 
pense for  what  the  war  had  cost  his  beloved  ally; 
and  nine  days  later  Charles  III.,  apparently  with 
some  hesitation,  accepted  the  act  of  cession.  His 
Catholic  majesty  thought  fit  to  explain  to  his  Coun- 
cil of  the  Indies  that  in  taking  on  this  costly  charge 
he  "was  inclined  to  accept"  because  the  Mississippi 
would  form  an  excellent  natural  boundary  to  Mexico ; 
because  smuggling  from  Louisiana  into  Mexico  would 
now  be  stopped;  because  if  Spain  did  not  take  the 
territory  Great  Britain  might  feel  impelled  to  do  so, 
and  then  it  would  be  "fortified  by  the  English  at 
our  very  back";  and  in  general,  it  was  not  good 
policy  to  offend  France.^     This  private  transaction 

•Choiseul  to  Ossun,  September  20,  1762,  in  Polit.  Set.  Quar- 
terly, xix.,  447. 
^  Ibid.,  455-457- 


1763]  TREATY    OF    PARIS  275 

was  not  mentioned  in  the  definitive  treaty  between 
France  and  England,  signed  at  Paris  on  February 
10,  1763,*  and  it  does  not  appear  that  the  news 
reached  London  until  long  afterwards. 

By  the  treaty  of  Paris,  England  retained  in  India 
all  but  Pondicherry  and  Chandernagore.  In  Africa, 
Senegal  fell  to  her  portion.  In  America,  France 
lost  Canada,  Nova  Scotia,  Cape  Breton,  the  Ohio 
Valley,  all  lands  eastward  of  the  Mississippi  save 
the  "island  of  Orleans,"  and  the  West  Indian  isl- 
ands of  Tobago,  Dominica,  Grenada,  and  St.  Vin- 
cent; while  Cuba  was  returned  to  Spain  in  ex- 
change for  Florida.  One  important  and  beneficent 
condition  was,  that  the  British  king's  "new  Roman 
Catholic  subjects  may  profess  the  worship  of  their 
religion  according  to  the  rule  of  the  Romish  church, 
as  far  as  the  laws  of  Great  Britain  permit";  and 
such  Canadians  as  wished  to  retire  to  France  within 
eighteen  months  might  do  so  without  restraint  of 
property  or  person.  Eleven  years  later  (1774)  the 
Quebec  Act  confirmed  to  the  French  in  Canada 
"  the  benefit  and  use  of  their  own  laws,  usages,  and 
customs ' ' ;  and  this  privilege  the  people  of  the  prov- 
ince of  Quebec  have  enjoyed  unto  the  present  day.^ 

In  England  the  treaty  was  bitterly  opposed  by 
Pitt  and  his  followers,  because  of  its  lenient  treat- 
ment of  France.     "  By  restoring  her  all  the  valu- 

*  Text  in  Gentleman's  Magazine,  XXXIII.,  121-126. 
'Coffin,  Province  of  Quebec,  450-462;   Howard,  Preliminaries 
of  the  Revolution  {Am.  Nation,  VIII.),  chap.  xiii. 


276  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1763 

able  West  Indian  islands,  and  by  our  concessions 
in  the  Newfoundland  fishery,"  said  Pitt,  "we  have 
given  to  her  the  means  of  recovering  her  prodigious 
losses,  and  of  becoming  once  more  formidable  at 
sea."  *  The  unpopular  compact  was  forced  through 
Parliament  only  by  a  scandalous  course  of  govern- 
mental intimidation  and  bribery.^  Notwithstand- 
ing this  opposition,  however,  England,  as  a  result 
of  the  Seven  Years'  War,  had  in  four  continents 
made  tremendous  strides  in  imperial  prestige,  as 
well  as  added  enormously  to  her  realm.  Her  pres- 
ent greatness  then  received  its  principal  impetus. 

The  contest  between  French  and  English  for 
supremacy  in  North  America  had  been  inevitable. 
In  speech,  thought,  and  aims,  the  two  races  were 
widely  separated.  Each  had  aspirations  of  ex- 
tensive empire,  and  one  could  not  grow  without 
hampering  the  field  of  the  other.  The  struggle 
was  long  impending  before  it  came  to  an  issue;  but 
in  the  end  the  race  best  suited  to  conquer  the  wil- 
derness won.  That  the  victory  should  have  taken 
place  before  the  walls  of  Quebec  was  accidental. 
Had  not  Wolfe  scaled  the  Heights  of  Abraham,  an- 
other leader  in  some  later  year  would  doubtless 
have  led  the  English  to  success;  the  result  was 
merely  a  question  of  time.  Considering  the  cir- 
cumstances, it  was  in  the  nature  of  tilings  that  the 

*  Green,  William  Pitt,  206. 

'Ibid.,  199,  200;  Mahan,  Influence  of  Sea  Pcnver,  382,  323; 
Kingsford,  Canada,  IV.,  499. 


1763]  TREATY    OF    PARIS  277 

English  tongue  should  triumph  in  North  America 
over  the  French;  that  local  self-government  should 
supplant  centralization  and  absolutism;  that  the 
farmer  should  succeed  the  forest  trader,  and  the 
policy  of  temporizing  with  savagery  fall  before 
the  policy  of  subjection.  The  treaty  of  Paris 
meant  that  civilization  had  taken  a  forward 
step. 

Nine  months  after  George  III.  had  acquired  from 
France  and  Spain  his  new  possessions  in  North 
America,  he  issued  a  proclamation  (October  7, 
1763)  *  forming  this  vast  territory,  island  and  main- 
land, into  "four  distinct  and  separate  governments, 
stiled  and  called  by  the  names  of  Quebec,  East 
Florida,  West  Florida,  and  Grenada."  The  prov- 
ince of  Quebec  in  general  terms  embraced  Canada 
and  what  we  now  know  as  the  Old  Northwest ;  East 
and  West  Florida  divided  between  them  the  main- 
land south  of  the  Atlantic  coast  colonies;  while 
Grenada  included  the  West  Indian  islands.  In 
order  to  please  the  savages  and  to  cultivate  the 
fur  trade,  and  perhaps  also  to  act  as  a  check  upon 
the  westward  growth  of  the  English  coast  colonies, 
the  king  commanded  his  "loving  subjects"  not  to 
purchase  or  settle  lands  beyond  the  mountains 
"without  our  especial  leave  and  license."  It  is 
needless  to  say  that  this  injunction  was  not  obeyed: 
the  expansion  of  the  English  colonies  in  America 

^  Text  in  Gentleman's  Magazine,  XXXIII.,  477-479;  reprinted 
in  Wis.  Hist.  Collections,  XL,  46-52. 


278  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1763 

was  irresistible;  the  great  west  was  theirs,  and 
they  proceeded  in  due  time  to  occupy  it. 

English  institutions,  having  defeated  French, 
were  now  put  to  another  test.  The  western  sav- 
ages, unconquered  allies  of  France,  must  now  be 
pacified  before  the  English  could  enter  into  full  pos- 
session of  the  Ohio  and  the  upper  lakes.  An  up- 
rising under  Pontiac,  head-chief  of  the  Ottawa,  in 
1763,  was  the  last  act  in  the  drama.  The  natives 
did  not  look  kindly  upon  the  treaty  of  Paris,  and 
proposed  to  assert  themselves  by  destroying  the 
new  masters  of  their  ancient  domain.  "The  Eng- 
lish shall  never  come  here  so  long  as  a  red  man 
lives,"  was  the  message  sent  by  them  to  the  Illinois 
French,  who  were  nothing  loath  to  encourage  the 
uprising,  if  the  Indians  would  do  the  fighting;  for 
it  was  plainly  foreseen  by  them  as  by  the  Indians 
that  English  rule  meant  that  the  wilderness  was  not 
much  longer  to  remain  a  fur-trading  Arcady,  that 
the  old  life  in  the  west  must  soon  become  a  thing 
of  the  past.  While  taking  no  part  in  the  war, 
there  was  no  hesitation  on  the  side  of  the  French 
in  hinting  that  their  "  great  father,"  now  strong 
again,  was  preparing  to  recapture  the  country,  and 
Pontiac  would  but  prepare  the  way.* 

The  conspiracy  was  active  from  Niagara  and  the 
Alleghanies  on  the  east  to  Lake  Superior  and  the 
Mississippi  on  the  west.     Throughout  the  summer 

'  Moses,  Illifwis,  I.,  1 24,  125;  Parkman,  Conspiracy  of  Pontiac^ 
I.,  174,  n. 


1765]  TREATY   OF    PARIS  279 

of  1763  the  English  forts  were  besieged  with  a 
persistence  almost  unique  among  savages.  Detroit 
and  Fort  Pitt  successfully  withstood  attacks  made 
upon  them;  but  several  others — notacly  Mackinac, 
Sandusky,  St,  Joseph,  and  Ouiatanon  (near  Lafay- 
ette, Indiana) — succumbed,  and  the  garrisons  were 
massacred.  A  reign  of  terror  existed  along  the 
western  border,  hundreds  of  pioneer  families  were 
murdered  and  scalped,  outlying  plantations  and 
towns  were  destroyed  by  fire,  traders  were  waylaid 
in  the  forests,  and  the  very  existence  of  the  English 
colonies  was  threatened.  Virginia  and  Maryland 
were  fairly  active  against  the  savage  foe,  but  Penn- 
sylvania deserved  General  Amherst's  anger  at  her 
"infatuated  and  stupidly  obstinate  conduct";*  by 
this  attitude  she  did  much  to  justify  the  mainte- 
nance in  America  of  a  standing  army  for  the  regula- 
tion of  colonial  affairs. 

As  usual,  the  Indians  in  time  wearied  of  their 
confederacy  and  were  cowed  by  repeated  defeats. 
In  1765  the  French  induced  Pontiac  to  sue  for 
peace.  Thenceforth,  until  the  opening  of  the  Rev- 
olutionary War,  the  westward  expansion  of  the 
colonies  did  not  encounter  more  than  customary 
local  opposition  from  the  tribesmen,  who  jealously 
guarded  the  passes  of  the  Appalachians. 

The  tmification  of  eastern  North  America  was 
a  splendid  achievement,  but  it  marks  the  end  of 
England's  greatness  in  America.     In  1765  the  Eng- 

•Parkman,  Conspiracy  of  Pontiac,  II.,  96. 


28o  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1765 

lish  North  American  colonies  were  twenty-three  in 
number,  grouping  the  West  Indian  islands  as  one 
province.  Of  these  Newfoundland,  Nova  Scotia,  what 
is  now  New  Brunswick,  Hudson  Bay,  and  the  two 
Floridas  had  but  a  feeble  population;  Quebec  was 
French  in  all  but  government.  The  thirteen  colonies 
most  distinctly  English  in  institutions  and  senti- 
ment had,  notwithstanding  the  king's  proclamation 
restricting  them  to  the  coast,  a  new  opportunity  of 
territorial  and  industrial  development.  In  their 
hands  lay  the  future  of  the  entire  region  between 
the  Mississippi  and  the  Atlantic. 


CHAPTER   XVIII 

LOUISIANA    UNDER  SPAIN 
(1762-1803) 

IT  remains  but  briefly  to  trace  the  fortunes  of 
the  French  in  Louisiana,  which  Louis  XV.  had 
on  November  3,  1762,  secretly  ceded  to  his  "dear 
and  beloved  cousin,  the  King  of  Spain."  The 
news  of  their  transfer  to  a  new  master  was  not 
broken  to  the  residents  of  New  Orleans  until  the 
receipt  by  the  astonished  commandant,  d'Abbadie, 
in  October,  1764,  of  a  letter  from  his  monarch  an- 
nouncing this  fact,  and  bidding  him  to  "  deliver 
into  the  hands  of  the  governor  or  any  other  officer 
appointed  to  that  effect  by  the  King  of  Spain,  the 
said  country  and  colony  of  Louisiana,  and  depend- 
ent posts,  together  with  the  city  and  the  island  of 
New  Orleans."  ^  But  Charles  III.  was  in  no  hurry 
to  assume  charge  of  this  white  elephant,  and  it 
was  two  years  later  before  he  sent  over  his  first 
governor. 

The  boundaries  of  the  province  were  long  dis- 
puted, being  left  undefined  in  the  treaty  of  cession : 
but  it  is  now  generally  agreed  that  they  did   not 

*  Text  in  Fortier,  Louisiana,  I.,   148-150. 

VOL.   VII. —  20  2oi 


282  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1762 

include  Oregon  or  any  other  lands  westward  of  the 
Rockies ; '  neither  was  Texas  a  part  of  this  broad 
domain.^  Spain  never  acknowledged  that  France 
possessed  any  rights  in  Texas,  La  Salle's  colony  in 
1685  being  considered  but  a  temporary  and  un- 
intentional settlement;  and  even  after  she  acquired 
Louisiana,  Texas  was  governed  as  a  separate  prov- 
ince. As  for  the  claim  of  the  United  States  to  the 
northwest  coast,  it  lies  not  in  the  purchase  of 
Louisiana  territory  from  France  in  1803,  but  on 
discovery  from  the  sea  by  Captain  Gray  (1792), 
the  Lewis  and  Clark  expedition  (1805),  the  settle- 
ment of  Astoria  (181 1),  the  acquisition  of  the  rights 
of  Spain  (1819),^  and  actual  colonization  in  later 
years  .^ 

The  population  of  Louisiana  at  the  close  of  the 
great  war  was  probably  thirteen  thousand  whites, 
of  whom  three  thousand  were  in  the  present  Indi- 
ana and  Illinois,  and  the  remainder  in  Lower 
Louisiana,  leaving  out  of  account  as  attached  to 
Canada  the  three  thousand  or  more  people  in 
Detroit  and  its  trading-post  dependencies  on  the 
upper  lakes.  New  Orleans,  both  from  its  posi- 
tion and  the  superior  character  of  its  people,  was 

'  Marbois,  Memoirs,  IV.,  275;  Am.  Hist.  Review,  IV.,  445; 
letter  of  Jefferson  (1803),  in  Writings  (Ford's  ed.),  VIII.,  261- 
263;   Henry  Adams,    United  States,  II.,  6. 

'  Ficklin,  "Was  Texas  Included  in  the  Louisiana  Purchase?" 
in  Southern  Hist.  Assoc,  Publications,  V.,  384-386. 

'  J.  Q.  Adams  to  Rush,  in  Am.  State  Papers,  Foreign  Relations, 
v.,  791. 

*  Channing,  Jeffersordan  System  {Am.  Nation,  XII.). 


1763]  LOUISIANA    UNDER    SPAIN  283 

the  leading  settlement,  and  the  depot  of  a  con- 
siderable trade  between  the  Mississippi  Valley  and 
France  and  the  West  Indies.  Its  French  popula- 
tion in  1763  was  possibly  three  thousand,  and  its 
chief  exports  indigo,  deer-skins,  lumber,  and  naval 
stores.  Elsewhere  in  Lower  Louisiana  the  most 
important  fortified  villages  were  Point  Coupee  (on 
the  Mississippi  River,  below  the  Red),  Natchez, 
Natchitoches,  and  Mobile;  the  chief  dependencies 
of  the  last-named  were  Fort  Toulouse,  at  the  junc- 
tion of  the  Coosa  and  Tallapoosa  rivers,  and  Fort 
Tombechbe,  on  the  Tombigbee,  controlling  the 
Creeks  and  Choctaws  respectively.*  In  addition  to 
these  were  several  shifting  Jesuit  missions  and  tem- 
porary fortified  posts  of  wilderness  traders,  extend- 
ing even  into  the  country  of  the  Osage  and  the 
Kansa.  In  the  Illinois,  or  Upper  Louisiana,  the 
chief  defence  was  Fort  Chartres,  with  perhaps  eleven 
hundred  white  inhabitants ;  other  forts  and  hamlets 
in  that  district  being  Cahokia,  St.  Philippe,  Kas- 
kaskia,  Ste.  Genevieve,  and  Prairie  du  Rocher,  on  the 
Mississippi,  Peoria  on  the  Illinois,  Massac  on  the 
lower  Ohio,  and  Vincennes  on  the  Wabash.^  All 
holdings  lying  east  of  the  Mississippi,  save  New 
Orleans,  of  course  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  British 
as  a  result  of  the  treaty  of  1763. 

'Hamilton,  Colonial  Mobile,  chap.  xxi. 

'  Turner,  in  Chautauquan,  December,  1896,  pp.  295-300;  Cana- 
dian Archives,  1890,  p.  109,  Hinsdale,  Old  Northwest,  48;  Winsor, 
Mississippi  Basin,  462,  Westward  Movement,  22-30;  Wallace, 
Illinois  and  Louisiana  under  French  Rule,  377. 


284  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1763 

We  have  seen^  that  Detroit  and  the  posts  on  or 
near  the  Great  Lakes  and  the  upper  Ohio  had  passed 
into  possession  of  their  new  owners  within  a  year 
of  the  fall  of  Montreal.  East  and  West  Florida 
were  taken  over  by  British  troops  in  the  autumn  of 
1763,  as  soon  as  possible  after  the  signing  of  the 
treaty  of  Paris.  It  had  been  deemed  essential  to 
penetrate  to  the  Illinois  at  the  earliest  opportunity, 
in  order  to  give  to  the  savages  visual  evidence  of 
Great  Britain's  power;  but  owing  to  the  Pontiac 
uprising  British  soldiers  found  their  road  thither 
blocked  by  the  confederated  tribesmen.  Several 
expeditions  were  sent  out,  but  they  met  with  per- 
sistent opposition,  and  occupation  was  delayed  for 
two  years. 

The  settlement  of  Ste.  Genevieve,  on  the  western 
side  of  the  Mississippi,  about  twenty  miles  below 
Fort  Chartres,  was  planted  certainly  as  early  as 
1 741-1742,  and  tradition  places  the  date  at  1735.^  It 
soon  became  of  considerable  importance  in  the  fur 
trade.  The  hamlet  was  visited  early  in  November, 
1736,  by  Pierre  Laclede  Liguest,  a  successful  trader, 
who  had  ventured  up  the  river  from  New  Orleans 
in  a  barge  laden  with  goods  for  Indians  and  settlers. 
Finding  no  room  there  for  his  projected  trading- 
post,  he  selected  the  site  of  the  present  St.  Louis. 
While  spending  the  winter  at  Fort  Chartres,  news 
arrived  of  the  treaty  of  Paris,  which  much  dis- 
heartened the  Illinois  French,  for  they  had  hoped 

*  See  chap,  xvi.,  above.  *  Scharf,  Saint  Louis,  I.,  65. 


1764]  LOUISIANA    UNDER    SPAIN  285 

that  their  country  would  not  be  ceded  to  England. 
They  now  wished  to  retire  to  the  west  of  the  river, 
within  what  was  understood  as  remaining  French 
territory,  for  as  yet  they  were  unaware  of  the 
cession  of  Louisiana  to  Spain.  The  palisaded 
village  of  St.  Louis  was  accordingly,  in  February, 
1764,  laid  out  around  Laclede's  post,  and  thither 
and  to  Ste.  Genevieve  perhaps  half  of  the  French 
population  in  the  Illinois  soon  drifted. 

At  the  time  of  the  founding  of  St.  Louis,  the  com- 
mandant of  Fort  Chartres,  and  lieutenant-governor 
of  Illinois,  was  Neyon  de  Villiers,  brother  of  the 
officer  to  whom  Washington  had  surrendered  at 
Fort  Necessity.  In  June,  1 764,  disgusted  at  the  turn 
affairs  had  taken,  and  unwilling  to  be  the  instrument 
through  which  the  unpopular  transfer  should  be 
made,  De  Villiers  summoned  thither  from  Vincennes 
the  veteran  Captain  Louis  St.  Ange  de  Bellerive,  and 
to  the  latter  and  his  small  company  of  forty-two 
men  handed  over  the  control  of  the  district.  There- 
upon, with  sixty-nine  officers  and  men,  and  eighty 
residents,  including  women  and  children,  De  Villiers 
descended  the  Mississippi  to  New  Orleans,  where  he 
arrived  July  2.  Many  of  those  in  his  following 
settled  in  Lower  Louisiana,  but  a  few  eventually 
returned  to  the  Illinois.^ 

St.  Ange  waited  for  sixteen  months  before  the 
British  arrived  —  so  long   that   he   and  his   people 

'  Scharf,  Saint  Louis,  I.,  69-73 ;  Wallace,  Illinois  and  Louisiana 
under  French  Rule,  353-360,  363. 


286  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1765 

began  to  trust  that  France  might  continue  in 
possession.  But  Captain  Thomas  Sterling  reached 
Fort  Chartres  October  10,  1765,  with  a  hundred 
veteran  Highlanders.  Presenting  Gage's  proclama- 
tion/ he  received  from  the  reluctant  commandant 
full  "possession  of  the  country  of  the  Illinois." 
After  hauling  down  the  last  French  flag  to  float  on 
the  American  main-land  east  of  the  Mississippi, 
St.  Ange  retired  to  St.  Louis  with  his  little  garrison, 
now  numbering  some  twenty  men.  There,  without 
further  warrant  than  the  common  consent  of  the 
French  inhabitants,  he  served  as  acting  governor 
until  1770,  when  Captain  Pedro  Piernas  arrived 
from  New  Orleans  to  assume  charge  of  Upper 
Louisiana  as  Spain's  lieutenant-governor.^ 

Early  in  1765,  at  a  time  when  it  was  still  hoped  in 
New  Orleans  that  Spain  might  not,  after  all,  as- 
sume control,  the  chief  citizens  of  Lower  Louisiana 
met  in  New  Orleans,  and  draughted  a  petition  to 
Louis  XV.  not  to  sever  them  from  France;  but  the 
messenger  despatched  to  Paris  was  informed  that 
restitution  was  impossible.^  The  first  Spanish  gov- 
ernor-general, Don  Antonio  de  Ulloa,  arrived  at  the 
then  shabby  little  capital  of  Louisiana,  March  5, 
1766,  accompanied  by  ninety  soldiers,  and  took 
command  of  public  affairs,  although  there  was  no 
formal  transfer.    A  man  of  some  excellent  parts,  and 

'  Text  in  Wallace,  Illinois  and  Louisiana  under  French  Rule, 
361.  '  Billon,  Saint  Louis,  27-30,  128. 

3  Wallace,  Illinois  and  Louisiana  under  French  Rule,  368. 


1768]  LOUISIANA    UNDER    SPAIN  287 

with  a  scholarly  reputation,  Ulloa  appears  to  have 
been  tactless  and  arbitrary,  and  aroused  intense 
opposition  to  Spanish  authority.  The  only  con- 
tented groups  were  a  colony  of  Germans  imported 
by  Law's  company  to  the  neighborhood  of  New 
Orleans  in  1722,  and  the  Acadian  refugees,  of  whom 
eight  hundred  and  sixty-six  arrived  during  1765 
and  1766,  and  received  lands  on  both  sides  of  the 
river  between  Baton  Rouge  and  Point  Coupee,  the 
"Acadian  Coast"  of  our  day.^ 

In  the  closing  months  of  1768  the  French  king 
was  again  passionately  appealed  to  by  the  people  of 
New  Orleans  to  "take  back  the  colony  instantly 
.  .  .  [and]  to  preserve  to  us  our  patriotic  name,  our 
laws,  and  our  privileges."  ^  But  Louis  ignored  this 
second  petition  wrung  from  the  hearts  of  his  former 
subjects,  whom  he  had  arbitrarily  abandoned  to  a 
foreign  master  with  whom  they  and  their  customs 
were  wholly  out  of  sympathy.  Thereupon  the  ob- 
noxious governor  was  placed  on  board  of  a  vessel, 
November  i,  1768,  and  sent  out  of  the  colony,  a 
revolutionary  proceeding  in  which  were  involved 
"some  of  the  most  influential  men  in  the  colony." 
This  conspiracy  aroused  a  desire  for  vengeance  in  the 
court  at  Madrid,  particularly  because  in  the  me- 
morial to  Louis  these  rebellious  subjects  had  frank- 
ly described  "the  Spanish  policy,  which,  gentle  and 
insinuating  in  the  beginning,   becomes   tyrannical 

*  Wallace,  Illinois  and  Louisiana  under  French  Rule, ^68,  378. 

*  Text  in  Fortier,  Louisiana,  I.,  172,  177-204 


288  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1769 

only  when  the  yoke  has  been  imposed."  The  fol- 
lowing summer  there  arrived  at  New  Orleans  Don 
Alexandro  O'Reilly,  newly  appointed  governor-gen- 
eral and  commander  of  the  province,  backed  by  a 
frigate  and  twenty  -  three  transports,  with  three 
thousand  soldiers.  The  chiefs  of  the  revolution 
were  arrested,  several  of  them  shot,  and  others 
confined  in  the  castle  at  Havana.^ 

Under  UUoa,  French  political  methods  had  been 
retained;  but  O'Reilly  introduced  Spanish  law  and 
governmental  machinery,  and  instituted  a  cabildo. 
Execrated  by  the  colonists  because  of  his  unneces- 
sarily harsh  treatment  of  the  revolutionists  of  1768, 
although  otherwise  a  man  of  good  judgment, 
"Bloody  O'Reilly"  was  succeeded  in  1770  by  the 
mild  and  humane  Unzaga,  who  soothed  the  Creoles 
into  a  fair  measure  of  contentment  with  Spanish 
rule.  He  was  followed  seven  years  later  by  the 
conciliatory  and  consequently  popular  Galvez,  who 
materially  aided  the  cause  of  the  American  revolu- 
tionists by  dealing  severely  with  English  traders  on 
the  Mississippi,  while  at  the  same  time  Americans 
were  permitted  to  purchase  munitions  of  war  in 
New  Orleans  and  ship  them  by  river  to  Fort  Pitt. 

When  Spain  declared  war  against  England,  in 
^779,  Galvez  assembled  a  military  force  of  six 
hundred  and  seventy  men,  mostly  French,  and  in 
a  brief  but  brilliant  campaign  conquered  the  Eng- 
lish   settlements    of    Manchac,   Baton   Rouge,  and 

*  Fortier,  Louisiana,  I.,  chap.  x. 


1781]  LOUISIANA    UNDER    SPAIN  289 

Natchez.*  In  March,  following,  at  the  head  of  two 
thousand  men,  he  compelled  the  surrender  of  Mobile. 
A  few  months  later,  with  reinforcements  from  Ha- 
vana, he  proceeded  against  Pensacola,  which  sur- 
rendered May  9,  1 781.  While  formulating  schemes 
for  the  capture  of  the  Bahamas  and  Jamaica,  the 
news  of  peace  arrived,  thus  putting  a  stop  to  the 
governor's  ambitious  enterprises. 

Meanwhile,  important  events  had  been  occurring 
in  the  Illinois.  The  British  forts  at  Vincennes  and 
Kaskaskia,  dependencies  of  Detroit,  had  been  used 
as  rallying-points  for  Indian  war-parties  which  were 
threatening  the  very  existence  of  Kentucky.  No 
British  soldiers  were  in  the  Illinois  at  the  time, 
the  posts  being  commanded  by  Frenchmen  in  their 
employ,  aided  by  small  garrisons  of  militia  re- 
cruited from  among  the  neighboring  habitants.  A 
force  of  Virginia  frontiersmen,  under  Colonel  George 
Rogers  Clark,  descended  from  the  Monongahela 
River  settlements  to  the  Falls  of  the  Ohio  (later 
Louisville),  and  marched  across  the  Illinois  prairies 
to  Kaskaskia,  which  was  won  without  bloodshed 
on  the  night  of  July  4,  1778.  The  French  settlers 
promptly  fraternized  with  the  Americans,  and  the 
Spanish  at  St.  Louis,  under  Lieutenant-Governor 
Francisco  de  Leyba,  did  "  every  thing  in  their  power, " 
Clark  writes,  "to  convince  me  of  their  friendship." 
Upon  his  famous  and  difficult  overland  expedition 
to  Vincennes  the  succeeding  February,  through  the 
'  Fortier,  Louisiana,  II.,  63-65. 


290  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1779 

swollen  marshes  of  eastern  Illinois,  French  volun- 
teers were  an  important  element  in  his  command; 
and  when  that  post  was  captured,  February  24, 
1779,  the  Vincennes  habitants  at  once  entered  into 
full  fellowship  with  the  conquering  "Big  Knives."  * 

In  May,  1780,  the  English  commandant  at  Macki- 
nac sent  an  expedition  consisting  of  "  Seven  Hun- 
dred &  fifty  men  including  Traders,  servants  and 
Indians  ...  in  an  attack  on  the  Spanish  &  Illinois 
Country."  After  a  mild  demonstration  against 
St.  Louis,  the  principal  feature  of  which  was  the 
burning  of  outlying  cabins,  the  raiders  returned 
by  various  routes  through  Illinois  and  Wisconsin. 
"They  brought  off  Forty-three  Scalps,  thirty-four 
prisoners.  Blacks  and  Whites  &  killed  about  70 
Persons.  They  destroyed  several  hundred  cattle, 
but  were  beat  off  on  their  attacks  both  sides  of  the 
River.  "2 

This  enterprise  was  soon  replied  to  by  the  Span- 
ish, who  in  January,  1781,  despatched  a  force  of 
sixty-five  militiamen — over  half  of  them  French — 
under  Don  Eugenio  Pourre,  against  Fort  St.  Joseph, 
near  the  present  Michigan  town  of  Niles.  After  a 
weary  midwinter  march  of  four  hundred  miles  across 
Illinois  and  northern  Indiana,  the  small  English  gar- 
rison at  St.  Joseph  was,  together  with  a  consider- 


'  Thwaites,  How  George  Rogers  Clark  Won  the  Northwest,  etc., 
27-63;  see  also  Van  Tyne,  American  Revolution  {Am.  Nation, 
IX.),  chap.  XV. 

^  Wisconsin  Hist.  Collections,  XL,  151-156. 


i79i]  LOUISIANA    UNDER    SPAIN  291 

able  group  of  fur-traders,  driven  from  the  country, 
the  Indian  alHes  of  the  Spanish  being  rewarded 
with  rich  spoils.  Large-  stores  of  goods  and  am- 
munition were  also  destroyed,  whereupon  Pourre 
retired  to  St.  Louis.  Because  of  this  bold  foray, 
the  news  of  which  only  reached  Paris  a  year  later, 
Spain  in  the  peace  negotiations  set  up  a  claim  to 
the  Illinois  country.  Galvez's  enterprise  had  led  to 
similar  demands  upon  the  south;  and  it  soon  be- 
came evident  that,  as  her  price  for  the  recognition 
of  American  independence,  Spain  aimed  at  obtain- 
ing a  large  slice  of  the  country  lying  to  the  back 
of  the  Alleghanies  and  abutting  on  the  east  bank 
of  the  Mississippi.  The  firmness  of  the  American 
commissioners,  who  persisted  in  maintaining  the 
Mississippi  as  the  western  boundary  of  the  United 
States,  eventually  warded  off  these  pretensions.^ 

Galvez  was,  in  1785,  followed  by  Don  Estevan 
Miro,  and  he  in  turn  (1791)  by  Baron  de  Caronde- 
let.  Both  of  these  officials  entertained  hopes  of 
alienating  the  people  of  Kentucky  and  Tennessee 
from  the  federal  Union.  Spain  controlled  the 
Mississippi,  the  commercial  highway  of  the  west, 
and  on  their  part  the  westerners  looked  with  hun- 
gry eyes  upon  the  rich  lands  held  by  Spain.  The 
federal  authorities  were  slow  to  realize  that  the 
free  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  was  essential  to 
western  progress,  and  there  was  consequently  much 

*  Mason,  Chapters  in  Illinois  History,  293-311;  McLaughlin, 
Confederation  and  Constitution  (Am.  Nation,  X.),  chap.  vi. 


292  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1788 

discontent  in  Kentucky,  fomented  by  Spanish  in- 
trigues. All  manner  of  schemes  were  advanced, 
varying  with  men's  temperaments  and  ambitions. 
Filibustering  expeditions  against  the  Spanish  were 
first  proposed.  Then  (1788),  when  this  did  not  ap- 
pear practicable,  men  like  George  Rogers  Clark 
were  willing  to  join  hands  with  Spain  herself  in 
the  development  of  the  continental  interior — and, 
indeed,  many  Kentuckians,  allured  by  promises  of 
large  land  grants,  settled  on  Spanish  territory  to 
the  west  of  the  great  river,  as  did  Daniel  Boone 
and  his  kindred  in  1799.  In  1793  and  1794  Clark 
was  ready  to  help  France  oust  Spain  from  Louisiana.^ 
These  several  projects  illustrate  the  unrest  which 
animated  the  trans-Alleghany  region  throughout 
some  twenty  years  of  its  formative  period.^  In 
1795  the  free  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  was 
granted  to  the  Americans  by  treaty.  But  under  the 
governorship  of  Lemos  (i  797-1 799)  friction  arose 
with  the  United  States  over  that  ofiicial's  arbitrary 
regulations  regarding  American  commerce  through 
the  port  of  New  Orleans;  the  trouble  blew  over, 
however,  and  under  Governor  Salcedo  amicable  re- 
lations were  resumed. 

All  this  while  life  among  the  French,  both  in 
Upper  and  Lower  Louisiana — the  number  of  Span- 
ish was  always  small,  and  almost  wholly  confined 

'Bassett,  Federalist  System  {Am.  Nation,  XI.)- 
'  Full  treatment  in   Turner,    "Correspondence  of  Clark  and 
Genet,"  in  Am.  Hist.  Assoc,  Report,  1896,  pp.  930-1107. 


i8o3]  LOUISIANA    UNDER    SPAIN  293 

to  the  official  and  military  classes  —  ran  on  in  a 
placid  stream.  There  was  a  small  but  steady 
growth  of  population.  The  fur  trade  prospered, 
with  St.  Louis  as  its  chief  entrepot  on  the  west 
side  of  the  great  river  and  Kaskaskia  on  the  east. 
Itinerant  merchants,  usually  French,  pushed  their 
way  to  the  upper  waters  of  the  Mississippi  and  its 
northern  tributaries,  also  into  the  southwest  tow- 
ards the  Spanish  commercial  centre  of  Santa  Fi. 
By  the  close  of  the  century  French  traders  had 
reached  the  Mandan  villages  at  the  great  bend  of 
the  Missouri,  where  they  came  in  contact  with  the 
agents  of  British  fur -trade  companies,  who  had 
journeyed  thither  overland  from  their  posts  on  the 
Assiniboin  and  the  Saskatchewan. 

We  are  probably  safe,  judging  from  chance  al- 
lusions in  the  documents  of  the  period,  in  estimat- 
ing the  population  of  New  Orleans  and  its  neigh- 
boring settlements,  in  1803,  at  upward  of  eight 
thousand,  and  of  St.  Louis  and  the  Illinois  at  six 
thousand — probably  there  were  fifty  thousand  aU 
told,  including  West  and  East  Florida,  and  counting 
negro  slaves,  but  eliminating  Indians.^  The  aggre- 
gate value  of  the  produce  annually  exported  was 
about  $2,000,000,  of  which  sugar  contributed  some 
$32,000  and  peltries  and  indigo  $100,000  each.  The 
principal  source  of  official  revenue  appears  to  have 
been  the  $537,000  imported  each  year  from  Mexico 
to  pay  the  salaries  of  employes;  for  the  province, 

*  Fortier,  Louisiana,  II.,  301- 


294  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1800 

which  was  corruptly  managed  in  every  department 
of  the  service,  remained  a  considerable  expense  to 
Spain  as  it  had  been  to  France.* 

Reflecting  upon  the  tragic  story  of  the  ousting  of 
France  from  North  America,  the  great  Napoleon 
deemed  it  possible  to  rehabilitate  New  France  to 
the  west  of  the  Mississippi,  thus  not  only  reflecting 
glory  upon  the  mother-land,  but  checking  the  Unit- 
ed States  in  its  westward  growth.  He  therefore 
coerced  Charles  IV.  of  Spain  to  retrocede  Louisiana 
to  France  by  the  secret  treaty  of  St.  Ildefonso,  signed 
October  i,  1800 — a  cession  supposed  by  Spain  to  be 
but  nominal,  but  intended  by  Napoleon  to  be  per- 
manent.^ There  was,  however,  no  formal  transfer 
at  the  time.  Three  years  later  (April  30,  1803), 
Napoleon  sold  Louisiana  to  the  United  States  for 
$15,000,000.  His  object  was  evident:  the  war-chest 
of  France  needed  replenishment ;  during  his  projected 
war  with  Great  Britain  the  latter's  all  -  powerful 
navy  might  readily  seize  the  capital  of  his  far-off 
colony,  and  invasion  from  Canada  was  entirely 
practicable ;  moreover,  by  giving  her  great  American 
rival  the  opportunity  to  expand  its  bounds  westward, 
England's  ambitions  thither  would  be  checkmated. 
Spain,  whose  dominion,  despite  the  treaty  of  1800, 
had  not  yet  been  disturbed,  first  formally  trans- 
ferred the  province  to  France,  November  30,  and  on 

'  Pontalba,"  Memoir,"  cited  in  Fortier,  Louisiana,  II.,  208-213. 
'  Becker,  in  La  Espana  Moderna,  May,  1903;  Channing,  Jef- 
fersonian  System  {Am.  Nation,  XII.) . 


i8o4]  LOUISIANA    UNDER    SPAIN  295 

December  20  the  representatives  of  France  with  ap- 
propriate formalities  handed  it  over  to  the  United 
States.  Similar  ceremonials  for  Upper  Louisiana 
occurred  at  St.  Louis,  March  9  and  10,  1804,  and 
thus  expired  the  last  vestige  of  French  power  on 
the  main-land  of  North  America,  almost  exactly 
two  centuries  after  the  first  successful  settlement  in 
Nova  Scotia. 


CHAPTER    XIX 
CRITICAL    ESSAY    ON    AUTHORITIES 

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL    AIDS 

WHILE  not  a  formal  bibliography  of  New  France,  a 
considerable  list  of  books  on  the  subject  is  given  in 
Reuben  Gold  Thwaites,  Jesuit  Relations  and  Allied 
Documents  (73  vols.,  1896-1901),  LXXL,  219-365.  Justin 
Winsor,  Narrative  and  Critical  History  of  America  (8  vols., 
1888-1889),  v.,  420,  472,  560-611,  is  full,  useful,  and 
suggestive,  but  only  includes  material  published  to  1887. 
J.  N.  Lamed,  Literature  of  American  History,  a  Biblio- 
graphical Guide  (1902),  106-110,  391-405,  410-421,  is  a 
convenient  introduction  to  the  sources  and  literature. 
Channing  and  Hart,  Guide  to  the  Study  of  American  History 
(1896),  §§  87-91,  131,  132,  is  brief  but  serviceable.  The 
numerous  and  sometimes  extended  bibliographical  notes 
in  the  twelve  volumes  of  Francis  Parkman,  France  and 
England  in  North  America  (complete  ed.,  1898),  are  of  great 
value,  but  often  lack  definiteness  in  the  matter  of  location 
of  sources.  The  "Bibliography  of  Fellows  of  the  Royal 
Society  of  Canada,"  in  that  s,oc\ety's  Proceedings,  XII.,  1-79, 
is  useful,  for  therein  are  listed  many  monographs  on  Cana- 
dian history,  both  in  French  and  English.  On  the  specific 
topic  indicated  by  the  title  of  the  work,  an  elaborate 
bibliography  will  be  found  in  Doughty  and  Parmelee, 
The  Siege  of  Quebec  and  the  Battle  of  the  Plains  of  Abraham. 
(6  vols.,  1901),  VI.,  151-319. 

Special  bibliographies  will  be  found  in  other  volumes  of 
the   American   Nation   series,    as   follows:     On   early   dis- 

296 


1763]  AUTHORITIES  297 

coveries,  III.,  Edward  G.  Bourne,  Spain  in  America, 
chap.  xxi. ;  on  English  colonial  institutions  and  inter-colo- 
nial relations,  IV.,  Lyon  G.  Tyler,  England  in  America, 
chap.  XX.;  V.,  Charles  McL.  Andrews,  Colonial  Self-Gov- 
ernment,  chap.  xx. ;  and  VI.,  E.  B.  Greene,  Provincial 
America,  chap.  xix. 

GENERAL  SECONDARY  WORKS 

The  standard  authority  in  English,  on  Canadian  history 
in  general,  is  William  Kingsford,  History  of  Canada  (10 
vols.,  1887-1898) — fair  and  concise,  but  of  course  the 
English  point  of  view.  The  best  general  works  giving 
the  French  side,  and  dwelling  particularly  upon  the  history 
of  that  race  in  Canada,  are  M.  E.  Faillon,  Histoire  de  la 
Colonie  Frangaise  en  Canada  (3  vols.,  1865);  J.  B.  A. 
Ferland,  Cours  d'histoire  du  Canada  (2  vols.,  1861-1865); 
F.  X.  Garneau,  Histoire  du  Canada  (4  vols.,  4th  ed.,  1882- 
1883) — an  earlier  edition  has  been  unsatisfactorily  Eng- 
lished by  A.  Bell  (2  vols.,  1866);  and  B.  Suite,  Histoire 
des  Canadiens-Frangais  (8  vols.,  1882-1884). 

Upon  the  topic  of  New  France,  of  course  the  standard 
authority  is  Francis  Parkman,  France  and  England  in 
North  America  (12  vols.,  1851-1892).  This  series  was  not 
written  in  chronological  order;  the  following  is  the  proper 
sequence,  with  the  years  of  first  publication  indicated: 
Pioneers  of  France  in  the  New  World  (1865) ;  The  Jesuits  in 
North  America  (1867);  La  Salle  and  the  Discovery  of  the 
Great  West  (1869);  The  Old  Regime  in  Canada  (1874); 
Count  Frontenac  and  New  France  under  Louis  XIV.  (1877) ; 
A  Half-Century  of  Conflict  (2  vols.,  1892);  Montcalm  and 
Wolfe  (2  vols.,  1884);  The  Conspiracy  of  Pontiac,  and  the 
Indian  War  after  the  Conquest  of  Canada  (2  vols.,  1851). 
Parkman  is  eminently  readable,  his  style  being  picturesque 
and  sympathetic,  although  sometimes  too  florid,  and  his 
development  of  the  plot  is  dramatic.  His  treatment  of 
the  Jesuits  is  open  to  criticism,  as  frequently  lacking  in 
fairness  to  their  point  of  view. 


298  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [i6o^ 

A  brief,  convenient,  and  impersonal  manual  of  the 
subject  is  H.  H.  Miles,  History  of  Canada  under  French 
Regime  (1872).  Justin  Winsor,  in  his  C artier  to  Frontenac 
(1894)  and  Mississippi  Valley  (1895),  studies  New  France 
largely  from  the  side  of  exploration  and  cartography; 
very  useful  for  reference,  but  rather  unreadable.  A.  B. 
Hulbert,  Historic  Highways  of  America  (15  vols.,  1903- 
1905),  especially  II. -V.,  has  much  of  importance  on  trails, 
trade-routes,  and  war-paths.  Useful  general  suggestions 
of  a  like  character  are  obtainable  from  Ellen  C.  Semple, 
American  History  and  its  Geographic  Conditions  (1903). 

GENERAL  COLLECTIONS  OF  SOURCES 

There  are  several  collections  of  prime  ^  importance. 
That  edited  by  Pierre  Margry,  Decouvertes  et  Etablissements 
des  Frangais,  etc.  (6  vols.,  1879-1888),  has  chiefly  to  do 
with  explorations,  and  is  invaluable  for  La  Salle's  operations 
— but  Margry  is  not  above  suspicion  of  having  "doctored" 
some  of  his  La  Salle  MSS.  in  order  to  prove  his  own  his- 
torical contentions.  O'Callaghan  and  Femow,  Documents 
Relating  to  the  Colonial  History  of  New  York  (15  vols.,  1853- 
1883),  cover  the  entire  period  of  the  French  regime,  with 
especial  reference  to  intercolonial  relations.  The  Collec- 
tion de  documents  relatif  a  Vhistoire  dc  la  Nouvelle  France 
(4  vols.,  1883)  is  general  in  character.  Important  series 
are  those  printed  in  Douglas  Brymner,  Reports  on  Canadian 
Archives  (24  vols.,  1874-1903):  the  Haldimand  Collection 
was  published  in  1884-1885,  Bouquet  Collection  in  1889, 
Murray  Correspondence  in  1890,  Nova  Scotia  documents  in 
1894,  Siege  of  Quebec  material  in  1895,  and  the  Moreau- 
St.  Mery  Collection  in  1899.  Of  general  value,  although 
specifically  in  the  field  of  Jesuit  missions  and  explorations, 
are  R.  G.  Thwaites,  Jesuit  Relations  and  Allied  Documents, 
cited  above.  P.  G.  Roy,  Bulletin  de  Recherches  Historiques 
(9  vols.,  1895-1904),  contains  much  of  a  general  character; 
so  also  the  Royal  Society  of  Canada,  Proceedings  and 
Transactions  (ist  series,   12  vols.,   1882-1893;  2d  series,  9 


1763]  AUTHORITIES  299 

vols.,  1895),  and  the  Societe  Historique  de  Montreal, 
Mimoires  d  Vhistoire  du  Canada  (9  vols.,  1859-1880). 

Taylor  and  Pringle,  Correspondence  of  William  Pitt, 
Earl  of  Chatham  (4  vols.,  1 838-1 840),  is  important.  Lord 
John  Russell,  Correspondence  of  John  Russell,  Fourth  Duke 
of  Bedford  (3  vols.,  184 2-1 846),  should  be  consulted  for 
final  peace  negotiations.  The  Gentleman's  Magazine 
(London,  1750 -1763)  and  Robert  Dodsley,  Annual 
Register  (London,  1 758-1 763),  give  contemporary  reports 
and  documents,  often  in  full — the  former,  particularly  vols. 
XXXIL  and  XXXIII.,  contains  the  treaty  of  Paris, 
Quebec  Act,  etc.  For  treaties,  conventions,  and  other 
state  papers,  consult  also  George  Chalmers,  Collection 
of  Treaties  betrveen  Great  Britain  and  Other  Powers  (2 
vols.,  1790);  William  Macdonald,  Select  Charters  Illus- 
trative of  American  History  (1899);  and  William  Hous- 
ton, Documents  Illustrative  of  the  Canadian  Constitution 
(1891). 

Many  contemporary  or  almost  contemporary  accounts 
have  much  the  same  value  as  documentary  sources. 
Gabriel  Sagard-Theodat,  Histoire  du  Canada  (Paris,  1836; 
new  ed.,  4  vols.,  1 865-1 866),  is  from  the  Recollect  stand- 
point; while  the  work  of  P.  F.  X.  de  Charlevoix,  Histoire  et 
Description  G6nerale  de  la  Nouvelle  France  (3  vols.,  1744; 
trans,  by  J.  G.  Shea,  6  vols.,  1866-1872),  written  nearly 
a  century  later,  is  a  Jesuit  publication.  An  English  work 
is  J.  H.  Wynne,  General  History  of  the  British  Empire  in 
America  (2  vols.,  London,  1770). 

There  are  numerous  other  contemporaneous  works  of 
which  we  can  but  note  a  selection.  The  two  standard  con- 
temporary English  histories  of  the  French  and  Indian 
War  are  John  Entick,  History  of  the  Late  War  (5  vols., 
London,  17 63-1 7  64),  and  Thomas  Mante,  History  of  the 
Late  War  (London,  1772).  A  French  account  is  by  M. 
Pouchot,  Memoir  upon  the  Late  War  in  North  America, 
iy55-i'/6o  (English  trans.,  2  vols.,  1866).  John  Knox, 
Historical  Journal  of  Campaigns  in  North  America  (2  vols., 
London,    1769),   is  valuable.     William   Smith,   History  of 


300  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1603 

the  Late  Province  of  New  York  (2  vols.,  1830),   is   also  a 
contemporary  writer. 

Topographical  and  social  data  are  obtainable  from 
Edmund  Burke,  An  Account  of  European  Settlements  in 
America  (2  vols.,  London,  1757);  Jonathan  Carver,  Travels 
through  the  Interior  Parts  of  North  America  (London,  1778) 
— although  Professor  E.  G.  Bourne,  in  a  paper  read  at  the 
Chicago  meeting  of  the  American  Historical  Association 
(December  29,  1904),  casts  doubt  on  the  authenticity  of 
this  work;  Thomas  Hutchins,  Journals  of  lydo  {Penn- 
sylvania Magazine  of  History,  II.,  149);  Thomas  Jefferys, 
Natural  and  Civil  History  of  the  French  Dominions  in  North 
America  (London,  1760);  and  Robert  Rogers,  Concise 
Account  of  North  America  (London,  1765). 

SPECIAL     COLLECTIONS      OF     SOURCES     AND    CONTEMPORARY 
ACCOUNTS 

John  Montressor's  "Journal"  of  the  Louisburg  siege  and 
"The  Journal  of  an  Officer  at  the  Siege  of  Louisburg"  are 
in  New  York  Historical  Society,  Collections  (1881),  151,  179. 
T.  Pinchon,  Memorials  on  Cape  Breton  (London,  1760),  is 
also  a  valuable  contemporary  account. 

The  Nova  Scotia  Historical  Society,  Collections  (11  vols., 
1879-1900)  contain  much  documentary  material  on  Acadia. 
So  also  Gaston  du  Boscq  de  Beaumont,  Les  derniers  jours 
dc  I'Acadie  (1899),  and  T.  B.  Akins,  Selections  from  Public 
Documents  of  the  Province  of  Nova  Scotia  (1869). 

Doughty  and  Parmelee,  The  Siege  of  Quebec  and  the 
Battle  of  the  Plains  of  Abraham,  already  cited,  is  a  com- 
prehensive and  invaluable  collection  of  documentary 
material  of  every  description,  connected  with  this  event. 
There  are  also  several  journals  of  the  siege  of  Quebec  in 
the  Quebec  Literary  and  Historical  Society,  Historical 
Docutnents  (5th  series,  1840-187 7). 

General  operations  in  the  St.  Lawrence  valley  may  be 
studied  in  Siege  of  Quebec  and  Conquest  of  Canada  in 
1719,  by  a  Nun  of  the  General  Hospital  (1855);  H.  R.  Cas- 


1763]  AUTHORITIES  301 

grain,  L&vis  Documents  (8  vols.,  188 9- 1895);  Official 
Documents  Relative  to  Operations  of  the  British  Army  in 
1759-1760  (1813) ;  C.  J.  de  Johnstone,  Journal  of  Campaign 
of  lydo  (Quebec  Literary  and  Historical  Society,  Historical 
Documents,  2d  series.  No.  5,  1866);  and  Canada  Frangais,  a 
review  published  by  professors  of  Laval  University  (1888- 
1891) — a  supplementary  volume  contains  Documents  inedits 
sur  VAcadie. 

Operations  on  our  New  England  frontier  are  covered  in 
Samuel  Penhallow,  History  of  Wars  of  New  England  with  the 
Eastern  Indians  (Boston,  1726) ;  Jeremy  Belknap,  History  of 
New  Hampshire  (3  vols.,  Boston,  1792),  IL  ;  Nathaniel  Bou- 
ton,  New  Hampshire  Provincial  Papers  (7  vols.,  1867-1873), 
VI.;  William  Livingston,  Review  of  Military  Operations 
(Massachusetts  Historical  Society , Collections,  ist  series,  V., 
67),  Aspinwall  Papers  {ibid.,  2d  series,  IX.),  and  Pcppcrrell 
Papers  {ibid.,  6th  series,  X.);  and  documents  (chiefly  con- 
cerned with  Rale  and  the  Kennebec  disturbances)  in 
J.  P.  Baxter,  Pioneers  of  France  in  New  England  (1894). 

Hostilities  on  the  New  York  frontier  may  be  studied  in 
J.  M.  le  Moine,  Le  Massacre  au  Fort  George  .  .  .  documents 
historique  (1864);  Daniel  Shute,  Journal  of  Expedition  to 
Canada  in  ly^S  (Essex  Institute,  Historical  Collections,  1859- 
1898,  XII.,  132);  Caleb  Ilea,  Journal  of  Expedition  against 
Ticonderoga  (ibid.,XVlll.,  Si-iyj);  A. TomVmson, Military 
Journals  of  Two  Private  Soldiers  (1855);  E.G.  Dawes,  Jour- 
nal of  General  Rufus  Putnam  .  .  .  I'/^y-iydo  (1886);  and 
F.  B.  Hough,  Journals  of  Major  Robert  Rogers  (1883). 

For  data  on  the  struggle  for  supremacy  in  the  Ohio 
valley  and  along  the  western  frontier  generally,  it  will 
be  essential  to  consult  not  only  the  Documents  Relating 
to  the  Colonial  History  of  New  York,  above  cited,  but  the 
Colonial  Records  of  Pennsylvania  (16  vols.,  1838-1853), 
particularly  V.-VIII.;  the  Calendar  of  Virginia  State 
Papers  (9  vols.,  1875-1890),  particularly  T.;  and  documents 
in  N.  B.  Craig,  Olden  Time  (2  vols.,  1846-1848).  Conrad 
Weiser,  Journal  of  a  Tour  to  the  Ohio,  1748,  and  George 
Croghan,  Tours  into  the  Western   Country,  iyjo-iy6^,  vol- 


302  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1750 

ume  I.,  of  Thwaites,  Early  Western  Travels  (31  vols., 
1904),  may  be  studied  for  conditions  on  the  extreme  Eng- 
lish-Indian frontier.  William  M.  Darlington,  Gist's  Jour- 
nals (1893),  is  invaluable.  So  also  J.  M.  Toner,  Journal  of 
Colonel  George  Washington,  1754  (1893);  W.  C.  Ford, 
Washington's  Writings  (14  vols.,  1889-1893),  I.,  II.;  A.  T. 
Goodman,  Journal  of  Captain  William  Trent  (1871); 
Dinwiddle  Papers  (Virginia  Historical  Society,  Collec- 
tions, III.,  IV.,  1883-1884);  N.  B.  Craig,  Memoirs  of 
Major  Robert  Stobo  (1854);  and  "Letters  of  Orme,  on 
Braddock's  Defeat,"  in  Historical  Magazine,  VIII.,  353. 
"  Recollections  of  Augustin  Grignon  "  {Wisconsin  Histori- 
cal Collections,  III.,  195)  throw  light  on  the  operations  of 
western  Indians  at  Braddock's  defeat.  The  Captivity  of 
Hugh  Gibson,  1756-iy^g  (Massachusetts  Historical  Society, 
Collections,  3d  series,  V.,  141)  illustrates  conditions  in  the 
Ohio  valley. 

On  the  French  regime  in  the  old  northwest  in  general, 
but  the  upper  lakes  especially,  consult  Michigan  Pioneer 
and  Historical  Society,  Historical  Collections  (30  vols., 
1877-1901),  especially  X.,  XIX.;  and  Wisconsin  Historical 
Collections  (17  vols.,  1854-1905),  especially  V.,  XVI.,  XVII. 

The  Pontiac  conspiracy  may  profitably  be  studied  in 
James  Bain,  Henry's  Travels  (1901).  Thomas  Morris, 
Journal,  1764,  in  Thwaites,  Early  Western  Travels,  I.,  gives 
his  thrilling  experiences  on  the  Maumee  towards  the  close 
of  Pontiac's  war. 

Southern  documents  of  the  period  will  be  found  in  South 
Carolina  Historical  Society,  Collections  (5  vols.,  1857-1897), 
and  B.  F.  French,  Historical  Collections  of  Louisiana  and 
Florida  (ist  series,  5  vols.,  1846-1853;  2d  series,  2  vols., 
1869-1875). 

Besides  the  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  and  Virginia 
colonial  records  and  archives,  above  mentioned,  the  student 
of  intercolonial  politics  should  consult  Archives  of  the 
State  of  New  Jersey  (22  vols.,  1880-1900),  particularly 
VIII. ;  Records  of  the  Colony  of  Rhode  Island  (10  vols.,  1856- 
1860),  particularly  V.,  VI.;  G.  S.  Kimball,  Correspondence 


1763]  AUTHORITIES  303 

of  Colonial  Governors  of  Rhode  Island  (2  vols.,  1902-1903); 
Stephen  Hopkins,  Trtie  Representation  of  Plan  Formed 
at  Albany  {Rhode  Island  Historical  Tracts,  IX.);  "Con- 
necticut in  Albany  Conference,"  in  Massachusetts  His- 
torical Collections,  VII.,  207;  and  Thomas  Hutchinson, 
History  of  Massachusetts  Bay  (3  vols.,  17 60- 182 8).  Colonial 
administration  may  be  studied  in  Thomas  Pownall,  Ad- 
ministration of  Colonies  (2  vols.,  London,  1764-1774). 

MODERN   HISTORIES    OF   THE    FRENCH    AND   INDIAN    WAR 

Contemporary  accounts  have  been  mentioned  above; 
so  also  Parkman,  Montcalm  and  Wolfe,  the  chief  single 
modern  authority.  A.  G.  Bradley,  Fight  with  France  for 
North  America  ( 1 901 ) ,  is  highly  commendable  for  breadth  of 
view  and  is  recent.  W.  C.  H.  Wood,  The  Fight  for  Canada, 
"a  naval  and  military  sketch  of  the  great  imperial  war," 
has  great  merit,  especially  as  showing  that  British  sea 
power  was  a  leading  element  in  the  struggle.  G.  D. 
Warburton,  Conquest  of  Canada  (2  vols.,  1849)  is  old,  but 
still  of  much  value.  Careful  French  studies  are  Charles  de 
Bonnechose,  Montcalm  et  la  Canada  Frangais  (1877),  a 
good  outline  sketch;  L.  A.  Bougainville,  Les  Frangais  au 
Canada  (privately  printed,  1896);  H.  R.  Casgrain,  Mont- 
calm et  Livis  (1891),  important,  as  being  based  on  the 
L6vis  MSS.;  and  Felix  Martin,  Marquis  de  Montcalm  et 
les  Dernihres  Annies  de  la  Colonie  Frangais  (4th  ed.,  1898),  a 
standard  work.  Some  interesting  side-lights  on  details  are 
obtainable  from  F.  W.  Lucas,  Appendiculce  historicoe  (1891). 

The  New  England  phase  of  the  war  has  been  treated  in 
J.  P.  Baxter,  Pioneers  of  France  in  New  England,  already 
cited,  and  John  Fiske,  New  France  and  New  England 
(1902),  a  series  of  more  or  less  connected  sketches. 

MISCELLANEOUS 

Many  authorities  have  been  cited  in  foot-notes  to  the 
text,  reference  to  each  of  which  it  seems  unnecessary  here 


304  FRANCE    IN    AMERICA  [1750 

to  repeat.  A  few  have,  however,  been  selected,  some  of 
which  are  not  mentioned  in  the  foot-notes  of  this  volume, 
with  which  the  student  will  find  it  desirable  to  become 
acquainted. 

In  Revue  Canadicnne,  particularly  I.,  IV.,  X.,  XVI.,  are 
articles  by  E.  Rameau  de  St.-Pere  on  colonial  administra- 
tion in  New  France ;  also  by  the  same  authority  is  France 
aux  Colonies  (1859).  Military  history  is  well  summarized 
in  J.  W.  Fortescue,  History  of  the  British  Army  (3  vols., 
1899),  and  naval  in  W.  L.  Clowes,  The  Royal  Navy  (7 
vols.,  1897-1903).  Canadian  conditions  are  summarized 
in  P.  A.  de  Gaspe,  Les  Anciens  Canadiens  (1863). 

The  standard  history  of  Newfoundland  is  D.  W.  Prowse, 
History  of  Newfoundland  from  the  English,  Colonial,  and 
Foreign  Records  (1895).  On  Acadia,  the  latest  authority 
for  the  side  of  the  emigres,  is  Edouard  Richard,  Acadia 
(2  vols.,  1895),  written  in  English.  An  excellent  account, 
in  French,  is  E.  Rameau  de  St.-Pere,  Une  Colonic  feodale 
en  VAmerique  (2  vols.,  1889).  James  Hannay,  History  of 
Acadia  (1879  ^^^  several  subsequent  editions),  is  the 
standard  English  authority  outside  of  Parkman's  works. 
The  chief  authorities  on  Cape  Breton  and  the  siege  of  Louis- 
burg  are  J.  G.  Bourinot,  Historical  and  Descriptive  Ac- 
count of  Cape  Breton  (1892),  and  R.  Brown,  History  of  the 
Island  of  Cape  Breton  (1869;.  On  the  siege  of  Quebec, 
consult  Doughty  and  Parmelee,  above  cited,  and  Ernest 
Gagnon,  Le  fort  et  le  chdteau  de  St.  Louis  (1893) — less  local 
than  the  title  indicates.  The  Hudson  Bay  region  may  be 
studied  in  Beckles  Willson,  The  Great  Company  (1899),  and 
George  Bryce,  Remarkable  History  of  the  Hudson's  Bay 
Company  (1900). 

On  the  New  York  frontier,  see  Pennsylvania  Magazine 
of  History,  III.,  11;  J.  R.  Simms,  Frontiersmen  of  New 
York  (2  vols.,  1882);  and  F.  W.  Halsey,  The  Old  New 
York  Frontier  (1901).  On  the  Pennsylvania  frontier,  see 
Report  of  Commission  to  Locate  the  Sites  of  the  Frontier 
Forts  of  Pennsylvania  (2  vols.,  1896).  The  war  and  condi- 
tions in  the  Ohio  valley  may  be  studied  in  T.  J.  Chapman, 


1763]  AUTHORITIES  305 

French  in  Alleghany  Valley  (1897);  J.  A.  McClung,  Sketches 
of  Western  Adventure,  1755-1794  (1832,  1872);  and  W.  H. 
Lowdemiilk,  History  of  Cumberland,  Maryland  (1878).  On 
the  French  in  the  west,  consult  Silas  Farmer,  History  of 
Detroit  and  Michigan  (2d  ed.,  1890);  S.  S.  Hebberd, 
Wisconsin  under  French  Dominion  (1890);  and  Joseph 
Wallace,  Illinois  and  Louisiana  under  the  French  Rule. 
For  Louisiana  and  the  southwest,  leading  authorities 
are  J.  F.  H.  Claiborne,  Mississippi  (1880);  C.  E.  A. 
Gayarr6,  Louisiana  under  French  Dominion  (4  vols.,  new 
ed.,  1903),  II.;  Alcde  Fortier,  History  of  Louisiana  (6  vols., 
1904),  I.,  II. ;  and  Marc  de  Villiers  du  Terrage,  Les  Dernikres 
Annees  de  la  Louisiane  Frangaise  (1903). 

David  Mills,  Boundaries  of  Ontario  (1873),  should  be 
consulted  in  connection  with  the  boundaries  and  the  peace 
of  Paris. 

BIOGRAPHIES 

The  biographical  material  is  considerable;  lives  of  such 
English  notables  as  William  Pitt,  Philip  Schuyler,  Benjamta 
Franklin,  Robert  Rogers,  and  others  prominently  connect- 
ed with  the  intercolonial  contest,  diplomatic  and  military, 
are  easily  obtainable.  The  standard  on  Wolfe  is  Robert 
Wright,  Life  of  Wolfe  (1864).  Eugene  Guenin,  in  his 
Montcalm  (1898),  has  given  us  a  notable  study.  Camille  la 
Jonqui^re,  Marquis  de  la  Jonquibre  (Paris,  n.d.),  is  worthy 
of  attention.  Lives  of  Sir  William  Johnson  are  by  Augus- 
tus C.  Buell  (1903),  W.  E.  Griffis  (1891),  and  W.  A.  Stone 
(2  vols.,  1865).  In  tracing  the  careers  of  prominent  French 
participants,  an  invaluable  aid  will  be  found  in  Cyprien 
Tanguay,  DictioncUre  gSnealogique  (7  vols.,  1871-1890).    , 


INDEX 


Abenaki  Indians,  war  against, 

30-33- 

Abercromby,  James,  in  com- 
mand, 222;  attack  on  Ticon- 
deroga,  231,  232. 

Acadia,  settlement,  12;  con- 
version of  Indians,  13;  stra- 
tegic importance,  13;  Argall's 
raid,  14;  Alexander's  grant, 
14;  English  settlers,  14;  prog- 
ress, 14;  feud,  15;  interna- 
tional intrigue,  16;  boun- 
daries, 22,  24,  28—30;  con- 
quered (1654),  23;  restored 
(1667),  23;  population  (1667), 
23;  characteristics  of  in- 
habitants, 23;  and  French 
rule,  24;  clash  with  New 
England,  25;  King  William's 
War,  26,  27;  final  capture, 
28;  ceded  to  England,  28-30; 
held  by  English,  120;  con- 
ditions (1755),  184-187;  ex- 
pulsion of  inhabitants,  187, 
188;  bibliography,  300,  304. 

Accau,  Michel,  exploration,  63. 

Agriculture,  neglected  in  Cana- 
da, 18,  138;  in  Illinois,  85. 

Albanel,  Charles,  at  Hudson 
Bay,  47. 

Albany,  trade  with  French,  92; 
population  (1754),  169;  con- 
gress and  plan,  169-172; 
bibliography      of      congress, 

303- 
Albemarle,  Lord,  captures  Ha- 
vana, 269. 


Alexander,  Sir  William,  grant, 
14;  hold,   16. 

AUouez,  Claude,  hears  of  Missis- 
sippi, 56. 

Amherst,  Jeffrey,  sent  to  Amer- 
ica, 222;  siege  of  Louisburg, 
224-229;  reception  in  Boston, 
230;  advance  down  Lake 
Champlain,  250;  plan  against 
Montreal,  259;  advance,  261; 
terms  of  surrender,  262,  263; 
administrative  ability,  265. 

Annapolis  Royal,  attacked,  110. 
See  also  Port  Royal. 

Anson,  George,  cruise  in  Pacif- 
ic, 102-104;  defeats  French, 
120;  in  Seven  Years'  War, 
218—220. 

Argall,  Samuel,  raid,  14. 

Arkansas  River,  English  trader 
on,  77;  French  post,  83. 

Army,  Canadian  military  con- 
ditions, 139-142;  English  co- 
lonial military  conditions, 
149,  150;  bibliography,  304. 
See  also  wars  by  name. 

Associates,  Company  of,  19. 

Atlantic    coast,    physiography, 

39- 
Augel,  Antome,  expedition,  63. 
Aulnay,    Sieur    d',  in    Acadia, 

Austrian  Succession,  War  of, 
causes,  105;  end,  122.  See 
also  King  George's  War. 

Avaugour,  Baron  Dubois  d', 
on  Canadian  settlements,  42. 


3o8 


FRANCE    IN    AMERICA 


Basques,  Newfoundland  fish- 
ery. 5- 

Batts,  Henry  (Thomas),  ex- 
plorer, 40. 

Baugis,  Chevalier  de,  super- 
sedes La  Salle,  67. 

Beaujeu,  Sieur  de,  and  La 
Salle,  68. 

Beaujeu,  H.  M.  L.  de,  attacks 
Braddock,  177;  killed,  179. 

Beausejour,  Fort,  importance, 
184-187;  captured,  187. 

Belle-Isle,  Marshal,  on  French 
foothold  in  America,  238. 

Bibliographies,  of  French  in 
America,  296;  of  siege  of 
Quebec,   296. 

Biencourt  in  Acadia,  15. 

Bienville,  Sieur  de,  in  Louisi- 
ana, 72,  76,  79-82. 

Bigot,  Franfois,  rascality,  200, 
220,  238;  trial,  264. 

Biloxi  settlement,  74,  75. 

Biographies  of  French  in  Amer- 
ica, 305. 

Bishop,  power  of  Canadian, 
129. 

Boone,  Daniel,  explorer,  40; 
at  Braddock's  retreat,  180; 
settles  in  Louisiana,  292. 

Boscawen,  Edward,  siege  of 
Louisburg,   224-229. 

Bougainville,  L.  A.  de,  at  Que- 
bec, 248,  249.  252;  retires  on 
Montreal,  261,  262. 

Boundaries,  New  England-New 
France,  24;  Nova  Scotia 
(17 1 3),  28-30;  Louisiana 
(17 1 2),  81;  Spanish  Louisi- 
ana, 281;  bibliography,  305. 
See  also  Claims. 

Bounty,  scalp,  ^^■,  military 
land,    159. 

Boufiuet,  Henry,  with  Forbes, 

235- 
Bourbon,   Fort,  97. 
Bourgmont,  Sieur  de,  trader,  83. 
Bourlamaque,  Chevalier  de,  at 

Ticonderoga,   232;  confronts 


Amherst,  245,  250;  at  Mont- 
real, 260,  262. 

Braddock,  Edward,  character, 
167;  preparation  for  expedi- 
tion, 174;  force,  175;  ad- 
vance, 175-177;  defeat  and 
retreat,  1 77-181;  death,  180; 
losses,   181. 

Bradstreet,  John,  plan  against 
Louisburg,  no;  captures  Fort 
Frontenac,  233,  234. 

Bretons,  Newfoundland  fishery, 

5- 
Burton,  Ralph,  at  Three  Rivers, 

265. 
Bute,  Earl  of,  rise,  266. 
Byng,  Admiral,  and  Port  Ma- 

hon,   198. 
Byrd,  Fort,   196. 

Cabot,  John,  voyages,  3-5; 
landfall,  3. 

Caen,  William  de,  grant,  20. 

Cahokia,  mission,  84;  growth, 
85;  school,  85. 

Canada,  traditional  visits,  7; 
Cartier's  exploration,  8;  at- 
tempted settlements,  8-10; 
grant  to  Pontgrave,  10,  11; 
settlement  of  Quebec,  16; 
motives  of  settlement,  17; 
interior  explored,  1 7  ;  services 
of  Champlain,  18;  economic 
condition,  18,  138;  under 
corporate  control,  19;  Hun- 
dred Associates,  20;  Catho- 
lic monopoly,  20,  138;  mis- 
sionaries, 21,  22;  conquered 
(1629),  22;  restored  (1632), 
22;  and  irregular  Indian 
warfare,  32,  33;  settlements 
(1632),  34;  origin  of  Iroquois 
hostility,  35;  Iroquois  raids, 
36,  37;  peace  with  Iroquois 
(1646),  37;  royal  control,  38; 
character  of  settlement,  41, 
42,  126;  and  Hudson's  Bay 
Company,  44-48;  influence 
of  climate,   124;    Quebec    as 


INDEX 


309 


centre,  125;  lack  of  naval 
base,  125;  fisheries,  125;  at- 
tempt to  promote  popula- 
tion, 127;  population  (1750), 
128;  (1759),  245 ;_  govern- 
ment, 128-130;  nobility,  130- 
134;  feudalism,  131,  132;  of- 
ficial corruption,  134  -  136; 
power  and  character  of  clergy, 
136-138;  paternalism  and 
naval  power,  138;  military 
strength,  138-142;  Indian 
allies,  139,  140;  attitude  of 
English  colonies  (1750),  145; 
extent,  154-156;  under  Eng- 
lish rule,  264,  265,  275;  ques- 
tion of  retaining,  272;  bibli- 
ography, 297-300;  of  govern- 
ment, 304;  of  conditions, 
304.  See  also  Commerce, 
Explorations,  New  France, 
and  wars  by  name. 

Canseau,  French  attack,   109. 

Cape  Breton  Island,  French 
fortify,  106.  See  also  Louis- 
burg 

Carondelet,  Baron  de,  in  Loui- 
siana, 291. 

Cartagena  expedition,  loi,  102. 

Cartier,  Jacques,  in  Canada, 
8.      _ 

Catholicism  in  Canada,  monop- 
oly, 12,  20;  missionaries,  21, 
22;  power  of  clergy,  136; 
their  character,  137;  conver- 
sion of  Indians,  140;  under 
English  rule,  275. 

Cavelier,  Jean,  with  La  Salle, 
69. 

Celeron  de  Bienville  in  Ohio 
Valley,  151. 

Central  basin,  French  claim, 
43-45 ;  physiography,  49-5 1 ; 
French  control,  107,  127,  143; 
English  aggression,  143.  See 
also  rivers  and  valleys  by 
name. 

Chambly,  Fort,  built,  108; 
abandoned,  261. 


Champlain,  Samuel  de,  first 
voyage  to  Canada,  11;  in 
Acadia,  12;  founds  Quebec, 
16;  explorations,  17,  42; 
death,  18;  services,  18;  and 
Iroquois,  35. 

Charles  III.  and  Family  Com- 
pact,  267. 

Charlevoix,  P.  F.  X.  de,  on  con- 
tinental trade-routes,  95. 

Chartered  commercial  com- 
panies, Canadian,  19-21,  38; 
Hudson's  Bay,  44-48. 

Charters.  See  Chartered  com- 
mercial companies.  Grants. 

Chartres,  Fort,  built,  84;  centre, 
85,  283. 

Chastes,  Amyar  de,  grant,  11. 

Chauvin,   Pierre,  grant,   10. 

Cherokee  Indians  and  English 
traders,  78. 

Chiswell,  Fort,   196. 

Choiseul,  Due  de,  plan  against 
England,   239. 

Claims,  European,  in  America, 
basis,  13;  French  method  of 
establishing,  43-45 ;  extent 
of  French, 107,  127,  143, 154- 
156. 

Clark,  G.  R.,  expedition,  289; 
and  Louisiana,  292. 

Climate,  influence  of  Canadian, 
124. 

Clive,  Robert,  success  in  India, 
219,  240. 

Colonies,  English,  population 
(1632),  34;  (1750),  147;  phys- 
iographic influences,  39;  and 
Cartagena  expedition,  loi, 
102;  provincialism,  144;  atti- 
tude towards  French  (1750), 
145;  frontier  belts,  145-147; 
racial  conditions,  147;  mili- 
tary conditions,  149,  150; 
number  (1765),  279.  See  also 
Commerce,  and  colonies,  sec- 
tions, and  wars  by  name. 

Colonization,  early  French  at- 
tempts,   8-10;    French    mo- 


3IO 


FRANCE    IN    AMERICA 


lives,  17;  and  naval  power, 
go,   109,   125,  139. 

Commerce,  Newfoundland  as 
centre,  7;  Great  Lakes  route, 
52;  English,  in  Mississippi 
Valley,  77,  78;  French  Louisi- 
ana, 82-84;  growth  of  French 
West  Indian,  90;  illicit  Ca- 
nadian, 92,  107,  1315,  136; 
illicit  English,  with  Spanish 
colonies,  99;  Spanish  Louisi- 
ana, 293.     See  also  Fur-trade. 

Connecticut,  Louisburg  expedi- 
tion, 112.  See  also  New  Eng- 
land. 

Contrecoeur,  Sieur  de,  at  Fort 
Duquesne,  177. 

Cook,  James,  at  siege  of  Louis- 
burg, 228;  in  advance  on 
Quebec,  244. 

Council,  Canadian,  129. 

Coureurs  de  hois,  133. 

Coxe,  Daniel,  expedition  to 
Mississippi,  79. 

Cresap,  Thomas,  trail,  154. 

Crdvecocur,  Fort,  63. 

Crown  Point,  fort  at,  108;  plan 
against  (1746),  119;  John- 
son's expedition,  181-183; 
abandoned,   250. 

Crozat,  Antoine,  control  of 
Louisiana,  80. 

Cuba,  British  seize,  269;  re- 
stored,  273,  275. 

Cvunberland,  Ohio  Company's 
fort,  154;  Braddock's  base, 
174. 

Dauphin,  Fort,  97. 

Delaware  Indians  in  French 
and  Indian  War,   189,  236. 

Denonville,  Marquis  de,  on 
English  claims,  92. 

Denys,  Nicolas,  in  Acadia,  15. 

Detroit,  importance,  53;  trans- 
ferred to  British,  263;  with- 
stands Pontiac,  279. 

Devonshire,  Duke  of,  ministry, 
304. 


Dieskau ,  Baron ,  confronts  John- 
son,  182;  captured,  182. 

Dinwiddle,  Robert,  and  French 
in  Ohio  Valley,  158-160,  165- 
167;  on  Dunbar,  189;  and 
Washington,  193. 

Doreil  on  Montcalm,  213. 

Douay,  Anastase,  with  La  Salle, 
6g;  with  Iberville,  73. 

Draper's  Meadows  settlement, 
152. 

Drucour,  Chevalier,  defence  of 
Louisburg,  226-229. 

Duchambon,  Chevalier,  de- 
fence of  Louisburg,  115. 

Duluth,  D.  G.,  rescues  Accau, 
64. 

Dumas,  Captain,  on  importance 
of  Ohio  Valley,  157;  defeats 
Braddock,  179;  Indian  raids, 
190;  at  Montreal,  260. 

Dunbar,  Thomas,  in  Braddock's 
expedition,   177,   180,   189. 

Duquesne,    Marquis,   governor, 

158,  182. 

Duquesne,  Fort,  importance  of 
site,  157;  English  begin  fort, 

159,  160;  French  seize,  160; 
named,  161;  Braddock's  ex- 
pedition, 174 -181;  raids 
from,  190,  191;  isolated,  234; 
Forbes's expedition,  234-236; 
abandoned,  236;  threatened 
by  French,  250;  rebuilt  as 
Fort  Pitt,  251.  _ 

Duquesnel  at  Louisburg,   109. 

Du  Tisne,  C.  C,  trader,  83. 

Duvivier,  Charles  ( ?) ,  captures 
Canseau,  109;  attacks  Annap- 
olis, 1 10. 

E  ASTON,     Indian     convention, 

236. 
Economic  conditions,  Canadian, 

18,  41,  42,  126,  131,  132,  138. 

See  also  Commerce,  Fisheries, 

Fur-trade. 
Education,  schools  in   Illinois, 

85- 


INDEX 


311 


Edward,  Fort,  built,  182;  Mont- 
calm threatens,  213. 

England,  Cabot's  voyages,  3-5; 
claim  to  North  America,  13, 
14;  French  colonial  rivalry, 
90;  illicit  trade  with  Spanish 
colonies,  99;  resulting  war, 
99  —  104;  political  turmoil 
(1755),  197;  foreign  soldiers 
to  defend,  197.  See  also 
Colonies,  Navy,  and  wars  by 
name. 

Erie,  Lake,  discovery  and  use, 

52- 
Explorations,  Champlam,  17, 
42;  English  western,  40; 
French  inclination,  41,  42, 
126;  Nicolet  (1634),  42,  55; 
and  French  claims,  43 ;  Great 
Lakes,  52;  Radisson  and 
Groseilliers  (1655),  55;  Mar- 
quette and  Jolliet  (1673),  56; 
La  Salle  (1679-1683),  62-67; 
Accau  and  Hennepin  (1680), 
63-65;  western  Louisiana, 
82-84;  Gist  (1750),  153.  See 
also  Voyages. 

Feudalism,  Canadian,  131, 132. 

Finley,  John,  explorer,  40. 

Fisheries,  exploitation  of  New- 
foundland, 4;  and  Louisburg, 
106;  Canadian,  125;  French 
rights,  272. 

Fleuri,  Cardinal,  policy,  89, 
99. 

Florida,  ceded  to  England,  273; 
possession  taken,  284;  Gal- 
vez's  attack,  288. 

Forbes,  John,  expedition,  234- 
236. 

Fox  Indians,  hostility,  95,  97. 

France,  English  colonial  rivalry, 
90;  compact  with  Spain,  99, 
267.  See  also  Claims,  Navy, 
and  colonies  and  wars  by 
name. 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  at  Albany 
congress,  170;  plan  of  union, 


170-172;  and  Braddock,  175; 
on  retention  of  Canada,  272. 

Frederic,   Fort,   108. 

French  and  Indian  War,  colo- 
nial military  conditions,  139- 
142,  149,  150;  French  in  Ohio 
Valley,  157,  158;  struggle  for 
Forks  of  the  Ohio,  159-161; 
Great  Meadows,  161-165;  ef- 
forts for  intercolonial  action, 
165-167;  English  aid  (1755), 
167;  colonial  regulars,  168; 
Albany  congress,  168-172; 
English  plan  (1755),  173, 
174;  Braddock's  expedition, 
174-181;  regulars  and  colo- 
nials, 175,  193,  223;  Crown 
Point  expedition  (1755), 
181-183;  Niagara  expedition 
(1755),  183;  conditions  in 
Acadia,  184-187;  expulsion 
of  Acadians,  187,  188;  raids 
on  western  frontier,  189-191 ; 
French  partisan  leaders,  191; 
western  frontier  guard,  191- 
197;  western  frontier  forts, 
196;  formally  declared,  198; 
Loudoun,  198,  202;  colonial 
dilatoriness(i  756) ,  199 ;  Mont- 
calm, 199-201;  quarrel  of 
French  leaders,  199-201,213, 
220-222,  237;  French  army, 
201;  capture  of  Oswego,  202; 
English  preparation  (1757), 
204,  208;  quarrel  over  quar- 
tering regulars,  205 ;  Louis- 
burg expedition  (1757),  208, 
209;  capture  of  Fort  William 
Henry,  209-212;  Abercrom- 
by  and  Amherst,  222;  prep- 
arations (1758),  222,  223; 
French  line  of  defence,  223, 
236;  English  plans  (1758), 
224;  capture  of  Louisburg, 
224  -  231;  occupation  of 
Canadian  coast,  239;  attack 
on  Ticonderoga  (1758),  231, 
232;  capture  of  Fort  Fron- 
tenac,  233,  234;  Forbes's  ex- 


312 


FRANCE    IN    AMERICA 


pedition,  234-236;  Indians 
desert  French,  236;  desperate 
condition  of  New  France, 
237.238;  English  plan  (1759), 
341;  Wolfe,  241,  242;  fall  of 
Quebec,  242-254;  advance 
down  Lake  Champlain,  250; 
capture  of  Fort  Niagara,  251 ; 
English  treatment  of  habi- 
tants, 255,  260,  264,  265; 
Quebec  after  capture,  255- 
257;  French  siege  of  Quebec, 
257  -  259;  capture  of  Mon- 
treal, 259-263;  surrender  of 
Canada.  263;  terms  of  peace, 
272-275;  results  inevitable, 
276;  bibliography,  299-305. 
See  also  Seven  Years'  War. 

Frdntenac,  Count  de,  and  Mis- 
sissippi, 57. 

Frontenac,  Fort,  built,  59;  La 
Salle  develops,  60;  captured, 
233.   234. 

Frontier,  belts,  145-147;  char- 
acter of  pioneers,  147;  Scotch- 
Irish  settlers,  148;  raids  and 
guard,  188-197;  forts,  196; 
proclamation  line,  277;  Pon- 
tiac's  raids,  279. 

Fur-trade,  monopoly,  10,  12, 
38;  importance  of  Canadian, 
17,  126,  127,  134;  efifect  of 
Iroquois  hostility,  37;  Hud- 
son's Bay  Company  and 
French,  46-48,  98;  La  Salle's 
patents,  60-63;  growth  of 
English,  67,  91-93,  136;  Ca- 
nadians fear  Louisiana,  80; 
illegal,  92,  136;  effect  of  Fox 
hostility,  97;  noble  traders, 
133- 

Gage,Thomas,  at  Montreal,  264. 

Galvez,  Bernardo  de,  in  Louisi- 
ana, 288;  campaigns  against 
English,   288. 

Gist,  Christopher,  explorations, 

^  4°'   '53- 

Governor,  Canadian,  129. 


Grants,  Chauvin  (1600),  10,  11; 
Monts  (1603),  12;  Guerche- 
ville  (161 2),  13;  Alexander 
(1622),  14;  Associates,  19; 
Caen  (1620),  20;  Hundred  As- 
sociates (1627),  20;  Hudson's 
Bay,  44;  La  Salle  (1677),  60; 
Crozat  (1 7 1 2) ,  80 ;  Law(i  7 1 7) , 
81;  Ohio  Company,  152. 

Great  Lakes,  Mississippi  port- 
ages, 49-51 :  exploration,  52. 

Groseilliers,  Sieur  des,  in  West, 
42,  55;  and  Hudson's  Bay 
Company,  44. 

Guercheville,  Madame  de,  grant, 
13- 

Hanbury,  John,  in  Ohio  Com- 
pany,  153. 

Havana  captured,  269. 

Haviland,  William,  advance  on 
Montreal,  260. 

Hawke,  Sir  Edward,  defeats 
French,  240. 

Hennepin,  Louis,  with  La  Salle, 
59,61;  expedition,  63;  Loui- 
siane,  64;  Nouvelle  Decou- 
verte,  65. 

Holbourne,  Admiral,  Louisburg 
expedition,  208,  209. 

Hopkins,  Stephen,  at  Albany 
congress,   170. 

Howard,  John,  explorer,  40. 

Howe,  George,  Lord,  in  Amer- 
ica, 224;  as  a  soldier,  231; 
killed,  232. 

Hudson's  Bay  Company,  es- 
tablished, 44;  powers,  45; 
Indian  trade,  46,  98;  profits, 
46;  conflict  with  French,  47; 
possession  secured,  48;  and 
Northwest  Passage,  94;  in 
King  George's  War,  122; 
bibliography,   304. 

Huguenots,  attempted  settle- 
ments, 9;  and  Canada,  12,  20, 
138. 

Hundred  Associates,  grant,  20; 
surrender  control,  38. 


INDEX 


3U 


Huron    Indians,   and   Iroquois, 

35;  destrcjyed,  36. 
Huron,  Lake,  discovered.  17,  52. 
Hutchinson,  Thomas,  at  Albany 

congress,  170. 

Iberville,  Sieur  d',  at  Hud- 
son   Bay,   47;   in    Louisiana, 

72-77- 

Ilhnois,  La  Salle  in,  63-67; 
settlements,  75,  84,  283-285; 
and  Louisiana,  81,  86;  de- 
velopment, 85-88;  govern- 
ment,86  ;  English  take  posses- 
sion, 285;  exodus  of  French, 
285,  286. 

Independence,  predicted,  123; 
Franklin   denies  desire,   272. 

India  in  Seven  Years'  War, 
203,  219,  240,  266,  275. 

Indians,  conversion,  12,  13, 
140;  in  King  William's  War, 
26,  27;  irregular  border  war- 
fare, 30-33;  Norridgewock, 
30-33;  understanding  of  land 
grants,  31;  hostility  of  Fox, 
95,  97 ;  in  King  George's  War, 
no,  121;  as  French  allies, 
139,  140;  attack  on  Brad- 
dock,  177-180;  raids  on  west- 
ern frontier  (1755),  189-191; 
Fort  William  Henry  mas- 
sacre, 211,  212;  Easton  con- 
vention, 236;  proclamation 
line,  277;  Pontiac  conspiracy, 
278,279.  See  also  Fur-trade, 
Iroquois. 

Intendant,  Canadian,  129,  134. 

Iroquois,  in  King  William's 
War,  27 ;  origin  of  hostility  to 
French,  35;  destroy  French 
allies,  36,  37  ;  raids  on  Canada, 
36;  peace  (1646),  37;  and  Sir 
Willii  n  Johnson,  121;  un- 
certain policy,  139,  151: 
British  suzerainty,  150:  cede 
control  of  West,  150;  Albany 
congress,  169,  170;  at  Easton 
convention,  236. 


Isle  aux  Noix,  checks  Amherst, 
250;  abandoned,  261. 

Jesuits,  in  Acadia,  14,  21;  in 
Canada,  21,  22,  137;  in  Illi- 
nois, 84. 

Johnson,  Sir  William,  and  Iro- 
quois, 121;  at  Albany  con- 
gress, 170;  Crown  Point  ex- 
pedition, 181,  182;  reward, 
I  S3;  captures  Fort  Niagara, 
251 ;  in  advance  on  Montreal, 
261;  bibliography,  305. 

Jolliet,    Lotiis,    on    Mississippi, 

56.   57- 
Joutel,   Henry,  with  La  Salle, 

69. 
Juchereau,   Louis,   expeditions, 

82. 
Jumonville,     Coulon     de,     and 

Washington,  161;  killed,  162; 

question   of   treachery,    162- 

164. 

Kaskaskia,  settlement,  75,  84,' 
growth,  85;  school,  85;  Clark 
captures,   2S9. 

Keith,  Sir  William,  on  impor- 
tance of  West,  93. 

Kennebec  River,  French-Eng- 
lish controversy,  30. 

King  George's  War,  military 
conditions  at  outbreak,  106- 
109;  capture  of  Canseau,  109; 
attack  on  Annapolis,  no; 
capture  of  Louisburg,  iio- 
119;  plan  against  Canada, 
119;  fear  of  French  fleet,  119, 
120;  Acadia  held,  120;  raids, 
121;  unsatisfactory  peace, 
122;  and  desire  for  indepen- 
dence, 123.  See  also  Austrian 
Succession. 

King  William's  War,  26,  27. 

Kirk,  Sir  David,  captures  Que- 
bec, 22. 

La  Barre,  Le  Febvre  db,  and 
La  Salle,  67. 


314 


FRANCE    IN   AMERICA 


La  Corne,  Saint-Luc  de,  guards 

Ontario,   245. 
La  Galette,  Fort,  261 
La  Harpe,  Bernard  de,  post  on 

Arkansas,  83. 
La  Jonquiere,  Fort,  97. 
Land,  Indian  idea  of  grants,  31 ; 

Virginia      military      bounty, 

159- 

Langlade,  Charles  de,  at  Brad- 
dock's  defeat,  179. 

La  Reine,  Fort,  97. 

La  Roche,  Marquis  de,  at- 
tempted settlement,   10. 

La  Salle,  Sieur  de,  early  career, 
58;  and  Jesuits,  58;  character, 
58,  61,  71;  on  Ohio,  58;  re- 
puted discovery  of  Missis- 
sippi, 59;  seigniory,  59,  60; 
patent,  60,  67,  68;  and  Tonty, 
61 ;  voyage  of  Griffon,  61-63; 
builds  Fort  Crevecocur,  63; 
return  to  Canada,  63,66;  en- 
emies, 66,  67;  on  Mississippi, 
66;  at  Starved  Rock,  67;  at- 
tempted colony,  68,  69;  mur- 
dered, 69;  fate  of  colony,  69- 

71- 

La  Tours  in  Acadia,  15. 

Launay,  journeys,  75. 

Laurain,  trader,  83. 

La  Verendrye,  Sieur  de,  in 
Northwest,  95-97. 

La  Y6rendrye,  Pierre,  Chevalier 
de,  sights  the  Rockies,  97. 

Law,  John,  Company  of  the 
West,  81,87. 

Lawrence,  Charles,  at  Louis- 
burg,  224,  227. 

Le  Boeuf,  Fort,  157. 

Lederer,  John,  explorer,  40. 

Lemos,  Gayoso  de,  in  Louisiana, 
292. 

L6ry,  Chaussegros,  on  the  Ohio, 

94- 
Lescarbot,  Marc,  in  Acadia,  12. 
Le  Sueur,  P.  C,  explorations, 

76. 
Levis,  Chevalier  de,  at  Ticon- 


deroga,  232;  attack  on  Que- 
bec, 257-259;  at  Montreal, 
263. 

L6vis,  Fort,  captured,  261. 

Leyba,  Francisco  de,  and  Clark, 
289. _ 

Ligneris,  Marchand  de,  aban- 
dons Fort  Duquesne,  236. 

Ligonier,  Fort,  196. 

Liguest,  P.  L.,  and  St.  Louis, 
284. 

Local  government,  none  in  Can- 
ada,  130. 

Logstown,  English  trading-post, 

154. 

Lords  of  Trade  and  Albany 
congress,  169,  171. 

Loudoun,  Lord,  in  command, 
198;  incompetence,  202;  Lou- 
isburg  expedition,  208,  209; 
recalled,  222. 

Loudoun,  Fort,  196. 

Louis,  Fort,  76. 

Louisburg,  built,  106 ;  trade  with 
Boston,  107  ;  importance,  109; 
plans  against  (1745),  no; 
colonial  expedition  against, 
111-113;  defences,  113;  siege, 
1 1 4-1 16 ;  fall,  116,  117;  credit 
for  reduction,  117;  rejoicing 
over  fall,  118;  colonies  reim- 
bursed, 118;  English  garri- 
son, 1 1 8 ;  restored ,  122;  Lou- 
doun's expedition,  208,  209; 
siege  (1758),  224-229;  sur- 
render, 229;  losses,  229;  de- 
stroyed, 230;  present  condi- 
tion, 230;  bibliography,  300, 

304- 
Louisiana,  La  Salle  takes  pos- 
session, 67;  attempted  colo- 
ny, 68-71;  settlement,  72- 
75;  and  English,  77-79;  and 
Spain,  78;  fur-trade,  80;  di- 
rect royal  government,  80, 
87;  Crozat's  rule,  80;  boun- 
daries of  French,  81;  Law's 
Company,  81,  87;  New  Or- 
leans   becomes    centre,     81; 


INDEX 


315 


military  districts,  81;  trade 
with  Mexico,  82-84;  gi"owth, 
87;  Fleuri's  policy,  89,  90; 
ceded  to  Spain,  273-275;  de- 
layed possession,  281;  boun- 
daries of  Spanish,  281;  pop- 
ulation (1763),  282;  towns, 
282;  St.  Louis,  284-286;  de- 
sires restoration  to  France, 
286,  287;  under  Ulloa,  286; 
rebellion,  287;  coerced,  288; 
various  governors,  288,  291; 
in  American  Revolution,  288; 
and  United  States,  291 ;  trade 
(1803),  292;  not  self-support- 
ing, 293;  receded  to  France, 
294;  ceded  to  United  States, 
294;  bibliography,  305.  See 
also  Illinois. 

Machault,  Fort,  236. 

Mackinac,  transferred  to  Brit- 
ish, 263 ;  captured  by  Pontiac, 
279. 

Mallet,  Paul,  purney  to  Santa 
Fe,  84. 

Mallet,  Pierre,  journey  to  Santa 
F6,  84. 

Manufactures,  none  in  Canada, 
138. 

Marincourt,  Sieur  de,  at  Hud- 
son Bay,  47. 

Marpain  in  Acadia,  15. 

Marquette,  Jacques,  on  Missis- 
sippi, 56. 

Maryland  and  preparation 
against  French   (1754),   166. 

Mascarene,  J.  P.,  defends  An- 
napolis,  no. 

Massac,  Fort,  236. 

Massachusetts,  and  Norridge- 
wock,  30-33;  scalp  bounties, 
S:^;  and  Louisburg  expedi- 
tion, III,  112,  118;  redeems 
paper  money,  118.  See  also 
New  England,  and  wars  by 
name. 

Maurepas,  Fort,  at  Biloxi,  74, 
75;  on  Winnipeg,  96. 


Membre,  Z^nobie,  with  La 
Salle,  61,  65,  66. 

Mexico,  Louisiana  trade,  82-84. 

Miami,  Fort,  built,  66;  trans- 
ferred to  British,  263. 

Michigan,  Lake,  discovered,  52. 

Mines,  French  search,  76. 

Mingo  Indians  in  French  and 
Indian  War,  189,  236. 

Minorca  captured,  198. 

Miro,  Estevan,  in  Louisiana, 
291. 

Mississippi  River,  Spanish  on, 
54;  French  hear  of,  54;  and 
Northwest  Passage,  54-57; 
Nicolet,  55;  Radisson,  55; 
Marquette  and  JoUiet,  56; 
course  and  importance  rea- 
lized, 57;  La  Salle's  reputed 
discovery,  59;  La  Salle  on, 
67;  Iberville  on,  74;  English 
on,  79;  free  navigation,  291. 

Mississippi  Valley,  Great  Lakes 
portages,  49-51;  English 
traders,  77,  78,  93  ;  English 
claims,  92-94.  See  also  Cen- 
tral basin.  Explorations,  Illi- 
nois, Louisiana,  Ohio  Valley. 

Missouri  River,  exploration,  83; 
early  trade,  293. 

Mobile,  settled,  76;  captured  by 
Spanish,  289. 

Monckton,  Robert,  captures 
Fort  Beaus6jour,  184-187; 
expels  Acadians,  187,  188;  at 
Louisburg,  229;  with  Wolfe, 
243,  253;  in  West  Indies,  269. 

Monro,  George,  defends  Fort 
William  Henry,  210. 

Montcalm,  Marquis  de,  in  com- 
mand, 199  ;  and  Vaudreuil, 
199—201,  213,  220—222,  237; 
army,  201;  captures  Oswego, 
202;  captures  Fort  William 
Henry,  209-2 1 1 ;  and  the  mas- 
sacre, 212;  plan  against  Fort 
Edward,  213;  defends  Ticon- 
deroga, 231-233;  despondent, 
237,  238;  defence  of  Quebec, 


3i6 


FRANCE   IN   AMERICA 


245,347-249,  251;  Plains  of 
Abraham,  253;  death,  254; 
bibhugraphy,  305. 

Montgumery,  Richard,  with 
Forbes,  235. 

Montreal,  Cartier  at,  8;  Iroquois 
raids,  37;  co-operating  ex- 
peditions against,  259-262; 
surrender,  262. 

Monts,  Sieur  de,  grants,  10,  11, 
13,  19;  in  Acadia,  12. 

Mount  Desert  Island,  Argall's 
raid,    14. 

Murray,  James,  with  Wolfe, 
243;  defends  Quebec,  255- 
259;  advance  on  Montreal, 
260. 

Natchitoches,  fort  at,  82. 

Navy,  and  colonization,  90,  log, 
125,  139;  growth  of  English 
power,  91,  109,  267,  271; 
Anson's  exploit,  102-104;  in 
King  George's  War,  113,  117, 
119,  120;  in  Seven  Years' 
War,  197,  209,  217-219,  224, 
228,  240,  243,  248,  252,  267, 
269-271;  decay  of  French, 
218,  267;  bibliography,  304. 

Necessity,  Fort,  162-164. 

Nemacoiin's  Path,  154. 

Neutrality,  England's  disre- 
gard,  268. 

New  England,  and  Acadia,  23- 
25;  northward  trend,  25-30; 
and  Abenaki,  30-33;  training 
of  border  warfare,  ^^;  bibli- 
ography of  wars,  301,  303. 
See  also  wars  by  name. 

New  France,  population  (1689), 
26.  See  also  Acadia,  Canada, 
Claims,  Explorations,  Fur- 
trade,  Illinois,  Louisiana,  and 
sections  and  wars  by  name. 

New  Hampshire,  Louisburg  ex- 
pedition, 112.  See  also  New 
England. 

New  Jersey  and  preparation 
against  French  (1754),  166. 


New  Orleans,  fovmded,  81 ;  as  a 
centre,   282. 

New  York,  northward  trend, 
25;  Louisburg  expedition, 
112;  and  preparation  against 
French  (1754),  166;  bibliog- 
raphy of  frontier,  301,  304. 
See  also  wars  by  name. 

Newcastle,  Duke  of,  and  French 
in  America,  119,  167;  and 
military  preparation,  197; 
retires,  204;  and  Pitt,  207. 

Newfoundland,  fisheries,  4-6; 
English  control,  6;  trade 
centre,  7;  St.  John's,  7; 
French  control,  27;  receded 
(1697),  27;  captured  and  re- 
taken (1762),  270;  French 
fishing  rights,  272;  bibliog- 
raphy, 304. 

Niagara,  Fort,  built,  53,  io8; 
Shirley's  expedition,  183;  iso- 
lated, 234; captured,  251. 

Nicolet,  Jean,  exploration,  17, 
42,  55. 

Nobility,  Canadian,  130-134. 

Normans,  Newfoundlajid  fish- 
ery, 5- 

Norridgewock,  Rale's  control, 
31 ;  raids  from,  32 ;  destroyed, 

32- 

Norsemen  on  American  coast,  5. 

North  Carolina  and  Ohio  ex- 
pedition   (1754),   159.   165. 

Northwest,  trade-routes  recom- 
mended, 95;  La  V^rendrye's 
enterprise,  95-97;  French 
and  Hudson's  Bay  Company, 
98;  bibliography,  302,  305. 

Northwest  Passage,  search  for, 
53,  94:  Mississippi  as,  54-57- 

Nova  Scotia,  named,  14.  See 
also  Acadia. 

Ohio  Company,  grant,  152;  ex- 
plorations, 153;  post  at  Cum- 
berland, 154;  trail  to  Red- 
stone, 154;  fort  at  Forks, 
159,   160. 


INDEX 


317 


Ohio  River,  La  Salle  on,  58. 

Ohio  Valley,  early  English  ex- 
plorers, 40;  French  recon- 
naissances, 94,  151;  Iroquois 
cede  to  English,  150;  English 
traders,  151,  154;  English 
settlement,  152;  Ohio  Com- 
pany's grant,  152;  Gist's  ex- 
plorations, 153;  French  posts, 
157;  Washington's  journey, 
158;  struggle  for  Forks,  159- 
165;  French  control,  165; 
English  forts,  196;  bibliog- 
raphy, 301,  304.  See  also 
Duquesne  (Fort),  Frontier. 

Ontario,  Lake,  discovered,  52. 

O'Reilly,  Alexandro,  in  Louisi- 
ana, 288. 

Oregon,  not  part  of  Louisiana, 
282;  basis  of  claim,  282. 

Orleans,  Fort,  83. 

Oswego,  founded,  108;  capt- 
ured, 202. 

Ottawa  River  route,  52,  53. 

Ouiatanon,  Fort,  captured  by 
Pontiac,  279. 

Paper  money,  Massachusetts 
redeems,   118. 

Pennsylvania,  and  preparation 
against  French  (1754),  166; 
and  protection  of  frontier, 
195;  and  Pontiac  conspiracy, 
279;  bibliography  of  frontier, 

304- 
Pensacola,  French  capture,  79; 

Spanish  capture,  289. 
Peoria  in   1763,  283. 
Pepperrell,  Sir  William,  siege  oi 

Louisburg,   111-117;  reward, 

118;  Niagara  expedition,  183. 
Philippine     Islands     captured, 

270. 
Phipps,   Sir  William,   captures 

Port  Royal,  27. 
Physiography,    Atlantic    slope, 

39;  central  basin,  49-51. 
Pickawillany,    trading  -  centre, 

154. 


Piemas,  Pedro,  at  St.  Louis. 
286. 

Pitt,  William,  and  Spanish  war, 
100;  in  ministry,  204;  mili- 
tary policy,  204,  205,  217; 
dismissed  and  recalled,  207; 
career  and  character,  215- 
217;  fall,  266,  268;  opposes 
treaty,  275. 

Pitt,  Fort,  withstands  Pontiac. 
279.  See  also  Duquesne 
(Fort) . 

Plains  of  Abraham,  battles, 
252-254-   257. 

Plassey,  battle,  219,  240. 

Pocock,  Sir  George,  captures 
Havana,   269. 

Point  Levis  and  siege  of  Quebec, 
248. 

Pontgrave,  grant,  10;  voyage, 
1 1 ;  in  Acadia,  1 2  ;  in  Canada, 
16. 

Pontiac,  at  Braddock's  defeat, 
177;  conspiracy,  278,  279; 
bibliography,  302. 

Population,  Acadia  (1667),  23; 
New  France  (1689),  26; 
(1750),  128;  New  England 
and  New  York  (1689),  26; 
English  colonies  (1632),  34: 
(1750),  147;  Louisiana  (173 1), 
87;  (1763),  282;  Albany 
(1754),  169;    Canada  (1759), 

245- 

Port  Royal,  Acadia,  settled,  12; 
moved,  14:  Argall's  raid,  14: 
New  English  assaults,  26; 
captured  (1690),  27;  (1710). 
28. 

Port  Royal,  South  Carolina, 
Huguenot  colony,  9. 

Portages,  Kennebec-Chaudiere, 
30;  Mississippi-Great  Lakes, 
49-51;  Great  Lakes -Arctic 
slope,  51;  French  realize  im- 
portance,  51. 

Porto  Bello  destroyed,  100. 

Portugal,  Newfoundland  fish- 
ery, 5 ;  England  protects,  270. 


3i8 


FRANCE    IN    AMERICA 


Pouchot  defends  Niagara,   245. 

Pourre,  Eugenio,  St.  Joseph  ex- 
pedition, 290. 

Poutrincourt,  Baron  de,  in 
Acadia,    12;  and  his  colony, 

15- 

Prairie  du  Rocher  settled,  84. 

Presq'isle,  fort  at,  157. 

Prideaux,  John,  Niagara  ex- 
pedition, 251;  killed,  251. 

Quartering  troops,  colonial 
dispute,  205. 

Quebec,  Car  tier  at,  8;  Roberval 
at,  9;  settlement,  16;  site,  16, 
109,125;  captured  (1629), 22; 
force  against  (1759),  242-244 ; 
river  protection,  244;  defen- 
sive force,  245;  defences,  246- 
248;  progress  of  siege,  248, 
249,  251-253;  Plains  of  Abra- 
ham, 253;  losses,  254;  sur- 
render, 254;  after  surrender, 
255;  condition  of  English 
troops,  256;  French  siege, 
257-259;   bibliography,    296, 

300.  304- 
Quebec  Act,   275. 
Queen  Anne's  War,  28. 
Quiberon   Bay,   battle,    240. 

Radisson,  Sieur,  in  West,  42, 
55;  and  Hudson's  Bay  Com- 
pany, 44 

Rale,  Sebastian,  at  Norridge- 
wock,  31;  character  and  ac- 
tions, 31,  32;  killed,  32. 

Ramezay,  Chevalier  de,  at  Que- 
bec, 245. 

Recollects  in  Canada,  21,  22, 
61. 

Revolution,  American,  western 
campaigns,  288,  290;  Spain's 
western  claims,  291. 

Rhode  Island,  Louisburg  ex- 
j)edition.  112.  See  also  New 
England. 

Ribaud.  P.  J.  A  .  on  Fort  Will- 
iam Henry  massacre,  212. 


Ribourde,     Gabriel,     with     La 

Salle,  6i;  killed,  65. 
Richelieu,    Cardinal,    Hundred 

Associates,  20. 
Roberval,  Sieur  de,  attempted 

settlement,  8. 
Rocky    Mountains,    first    seen, 

84,  97. 
Rogers,  Robert,  reduces  upper 

forts,  263. 
RoUo,  Lord,  at  Louisburg,  229; 

in     advance     on     Montreal, 

260. 
Roquemaure  at  Montreal,  262. 

Sable  Island,  La  Roche's  col- 
onists on,  10. 

St.  Ange  de  Bellerive,  in  Illinois, 
285;  at  St.  Louis,  286. 

Saint-Castin,  Baron  de,  in  Aca- 
dia, 15. 

St.  Charles,  Fort,  96. 

St.  Croix  Island,  attempted  set- 
tlement, 12. 

Ste.  Genevieve,  settlement, 
284. 

Sainte  H^lene,  Sieur  de,  at 
Hudson  Bay,  47. 

St.  John,  Fort,  abandoned, 
261. 

St.  John's,  Newfoundland,  im- 
portance,  7. 

St.  John's  River,  Huguenot  col- 
ony, 9. 

St.  Joseph,  Fort,  transferred  to 
British,  263 ;  captured  by  Pon- 
tiac,  279;  Spanish  expedition 
against,  290. 

St.  Lawrence  River,  traditional 
visits,  7;  Cartier  on,  8.  See 
also  Great  Lakes. 

St.  Louis,  founded,  284;  trade, 

293- 

St.  Louis,  Fort,  on  Starved 
Rock,  65,  67,  75;  on  Mata- 
gorda Bav,  68,  70. 

St.  Philippe'  settled,  84. 

St.  Pierre.  L.  J.  de,  in  North- 
west, 97. 


INDEX 


319 


St.  Pierre,  Fort,  96. 

Salcedo,  J.  M.  de,  in  Louisiana, 

292. 
Sailing,  John,  explorer,  40. 
Sandusk    captured  by  Pontiac, 

279. 
Santa  Fe,  French  trade,  84. 
Saratoga,  raid  on,  121. 
Saunders,  Sir  Charles,  at  siege 

of  Quebec,  242-245,  248,  252, 

255- 
Sauvole,  Sieur  de,  in  Louisiana, 

73.  76  „        . 

Scotch  -  Irish  frontier    settlers, 

148. 
Sedgwick,     Robert,     conquers 

Acadia,  23 
Seven  Years'  War,  naval  phase, 

197,  217,  220,  240,  267,  269- 
271;    causes,    198;    progress, 

198,  203,  214,  240,  266,  269- 
271;  in  India,  203,  219,  240, 
266,  275;  Pitt's  policy,  204- 
207,  217;  British  enthusiasm 
(1759),  239;  Family  Compact, 
267-269;  peace,  271-276;  re- 
sults, 276.  See  also  French 
and  Indian  War. 

Shawnee  Indians  in  French  and 
Indian  War,  189,  236. 

Shirley,  William,  and  siege  of 
Louisburg,  iii,  118;  plan  of 
campaign  (1755),  173;  Niag- 
ara expedition,  183. 

Smuggling,  Canadian,  135. 

Social  conditions,  Acadian,  23; 
Canadian  nobility,  130-134; 
official  corruption,  134-136; 
clergy,  136  -  138  ;  English 
frontier,  147;  racial,  147. 

Sources,  on  French  in  America, 
298-300;  on  French  and  Ind- 
ian War,  299-303;  on  Ohio 
Valley,  301 ;  on  frontier  wars, 
301. 

Spain,  colonial  policy,  99;  and 
English  illicit  trade,  97;  war 
with  England,  99-104;  Fam- 
ily   Compact,    267-269;    in 


Seven  Years'  War,  269-271. 

See  also  Louisiana. 
Stanwix,  John,  builds  Fort  Pitt, 

250,   251. 
Starved  Rock,  Fort  St.  Loviis, 

65-  67,  75- 

Sterling,  Thomas,  takes  posses- 
sion of  Illinois,  286. 

Subercasse,  D.  A.  de,  in  Acadia, 

Sulpitians  in  Illinois,  84. 
Superior,  Lake,  discovered,  52. 

Texas,  rival  claims,  82;  not 
part  of  Louisiana,  282. 

Ticonderoga,  Montcalm  at,  203 ; 
Abercromby's  expedition, 
231-233;  abandoned,  250. 

Tombechbd,  Fort,  283. 

Tonty,  Henri  de,  and  La  Salle, 
61,65,66;  search  for  La  Salle's 
colony,  69;  and  Iberville,  75. 

Toulouse,  Fort,  283. 

Townsend,  George,  with  Wolfe, 
243;  in  command,  255. 

Treaties,  Breda  (1667),  23; 
Ryswick  (1697),  27;  Utrecht 
(17 1 3),  28;  Aix-la-Chapelle 
(174S),  122;  Paris  (1763), 
271—276. 

Trent,  William,  Ohio  expedi- 
tion, 150,  160. 

Troyes,  Chevalier  de,  at  Hud- 
son Bay,  47. 

Tyng,  Edward,  Louisburg  ex- 
pedition,  112. 

Ulloa,  Antonio  de,  in  Loui- 
siana, 286,  287. 

Union ,  earl  y  congresses  ,27,168; 
New  England  Confederation, 
168;  Albany  congress  and 
plan,   169-172. 

Unzaga,  Luis  de,  in  Louisiana, 
28S. 

Vaudreuil,  Marquis  de,  gov- 
ernor, 182;  and  Montcalm, 
199,  200,  213,  220-222,  237; 


320 


FRANCE    IN    AMERICA 


flees,  254;  at  Montreal,  262; 
trial,  264. 

Vaughn,  William,  plan  against 
Louisburg,  no. 

Venango,  English  trading-cen- 
tre,  154;  French  seize,   158. 

Vergor,  Duchanibon,  defends 
Beausdjour,    187. 

Vernon,  Edward,  in  Spanish 
America,  loi;  Cartagena  ex- 
pedition, loi,  102. 

Vetch,  Samuel,  and  Acadians, 
184. 

Villiers,  Coulon  de,  and  Wash- 
ington, 162-164 

Vilhers,  Neyon  de,  leaves  Illi- 
nois, 285. 

Vincennes,  in  1763,  283;  Clark 
captures,  289. 

Virginia,  and  Ohio  Company, 
152;  Ohio  expedition,  159- 
165;  military  land  bounties, 

159- 
Voyages,   Cabot,    3-5;   Cartier, 
8.     See  also  Explorations. 

Walker.  Thomas,  explorer,  40. 

Walpole,  Sir  Robert,  peace 
policy,  90,  99;  fall,   100. 

Warren,  Peter,  Louisburg  expe- 
dition, 1 13-1 1  7 ;  reward,  118. 

Washington,  George,  western 
exploration,  40;  journey  to 
French  posts,  158;  Ohio  ex- 
pedition, 159-161;  and  Ju- 
monville,  161-164;  Fort  Ne- 
cessity, 162;  surrenders,  163- 


165;  with  Braddock,  175, 
178-180;  guards  western 
frontier,  191,  193-197;  with 
Forbes,  235. 

Webb,  Daniel,  at  Fort  Edward, 
209,  213. 

Wentworth,  Thomas,  Carta- 
gena expedition,  102 

West,  proclamation  line,  277; 
Pontiac  conspiracy,  278,  279; 
in  Revolution,  288-291  ;  re- 
lations with  Louisiana,  291. 
See  also  Central  basin.  Ex- 
plorations, Fur-trade,  Illinois, 
Louisiana,  Mississippi  Valley, 
Northwest,  Ohio  Valley. 

West  Indies,  prosperity  of 
French,  89;  in  Seven  Years' 
War,  240,  269;  readjustment 
by  Peace  of  Paris,  272,  273, 

275- 

Whitmore,  Edward,  at  Louis- 
burg,  224,   227. 

William  Henry,  Fort,  built, 
182;  siege,  209-211;  massa- 
cre, 211,   212. 

Wills  Creek  post,  154. 

Wolfe,  James,  at  Louisburg. 
224,  227-230;  career  and 
character,  241,  242;  force 
against  Quebec,  242-244;  ad- 
vance, 244;  progress  of  siege, 
248,  249,  251-253.  Plains  of 
Abraham.  253;  killed,  253; 
bibliography.  305. 

Wood,  Abraham,  exploration, 
40. 


END    OF    VOL.    VII. 


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